Californication
by Verthril
Summary: AU X-men : Instead of Alaska, Rogue heads off in search of the Pacific. though Victor still finds her. Without Logan she is forced to take matters into her own deadly hands. Saved for the moment by a skater girl, she ends up meeting the mysterious Remy LeBeau who offers her shelter and perhaps more.
1. Chapter 1

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made by this work.

Rolling over in bed, he looked to the time and thought of how he had to be up for six in the morning as the banging against his door relentlessly carried on. Sighing, he reluctantly slipped from bed and walked to his dresser snatching up a pack of cigarettes and tapping one out, pressing it to his lips and looking for his lighter. Three sparks later a flame danced before him, puffing away until a smoldering ember burned.

"Remy open the fucking door!" The frantic voice called, the pounding carrying on.

Already he could hear people threatening to call the cops, others just yelling for whoever it was to shut the hell up. He knew who it was and figured they wouldn't be calling on him this late in the evening unless they were in trouble, unchaining the door and throwing open the lock. He looked down on her and the form she had wrapped up in a blanket. She didn't wait for an invitation, just rushing in and off to the bath. Locking the door again, he headed off to the kitchen to raid his fridge.

He could hear the shower running, Jubilee trying to hush whoever she'd brought over. Making some sandwiches he just left her to it, throwing on a pot of coffee figuring sleep was out of the cards tonight. Going back to the fridge he grabbed some bottles of spring water, San Pellegrino his favourite, setting them down with the sandwiches. Walking off to his bath, he rapped his knuckles against the door and waited.

"You decent in there Petit?" Remy asked, rolling his back against the wall and looking off about his apartment.

"Shit, fuck! I don't know what's wrong with her Remy!" Jubilee swore.

Shaking his head, he opened the door and looked in, some cute brunette with a blonde highlights running through her hair huddled under the spray. She didn't look like any of the usual friends Jubilee brought over, her skin far too pale to be another beach bum or skater girl. Whoever she was she was half out of her mind in fear, keeping the blanket drawn tight about her and trying to press herself right through the wall.

"She high? She tripping?" Remy asked, fearing the worst.

"Fuck no. Some fucking crazy ass smurf and a god damn werewolf tried to snatch her from the beach. I ain't shitting you, I knocked that god damn bitch smurfette clear into the surf but fuck if that werewolf just didn't keep..." Jubilee started rambling without end until Remy took her face into his hands.

"Petit, Jubilee. Look at me, you not shitting Remy?" Remy asked staring into her eyes, his friend just shaking her head and he could tell she was telling the truth.

"Why the blanket?" Remy asked, stroking her face trying to calm her down.

"Dude you can't touch her, I mean I did and it was...ya know what forget it. Just, just don't touch her. I think she killed the werewolf dude, he was fucking all over her but she just had him by the throat after he tried to fuck her up." Jubilee explained, taking deep breaths trying to find her calm that wouldn't come.

"Anyone see you?" Remy asked, the last thing he'd need were the police coming by his place.

"No, I went straight up the beach. Anyone asked I just said she was drunk. I didn't know where to go, I'm sorry. I was just so..." Jubilee whimpered.

"No need Petit, we friends. You hungry?" Remy asked, seeing her tiny timid nod.

Helping her to her feet he left whoever the poor girl was in the shower to find some space, walking Jubilee off to the kitchen. He tried to guide her to a chair but she ended up just slumping down with her back to his cabinets, keeping in one corner with her eyes on all the exits. Smiling wistfully at the habit, he plated a couple sandwiches for her and set a bottle of water down beside her. She didn't wait on ceremony, wolfing one down as he fixed himself a cup of his freshly brewed coffee.

Taking a bottle of water and another pair of sandwiches off to the bath, he sat down on the toilet and looked to the poor girl there. Putting the plate down on his bathroom counter, he reached in to cut the shower and handed her a bottle of water he was relieved to see her readily take. She was pretty he noticed, likely a few years older than Jubilee, amazing eyes of green that were sadly gripped by panic and fear just then. He longed to clear them of that and let her find peace before he'd dare ask her anything as simple as her name.

"Forgive my state of undress Chere, you hungry?" Remy apologized, then holding the plate out to her.

Just like his friend she didn't stand on ceremony, hungrily taking one and wolfing it down before the other. She looked apologetic but he just waved her off, realizing he still had a smoke clutched in the corner of his lip. Throwing it down sinks drain, he thought it was a bad habit to smoke around those without asking their permission first.

"Plenty more where that came from, don't you worry. You my guest, Petit's friends always welcome at Chateau Laurence. That just be the name on the lease though." Remy said with a wink, holding the plate the whole while as she finished the sandwiches.

"Thank you." The girl fretfully said, huddling further into the blanket.

"De rien, you're welcome. Let me get you a robe, you can get out of all that wet stuff. Then when you're ready you can come get another bite if you still be hungry, or even just a cup of coffee." Remy said, taking the plate and heading back off to the kitchen.

Jubilee was still in her corner as he put his plate in the sink, looking in his cabinets for some cookies he kept for those times he liked to indulge himself. Throwing the box down to her, he gave a wink before heading off to his room. Finding that one terrycloth robe he kept always freshly laundered for whenever he had company of the most agreeable kind, he headed off to the bath and gave a knock at the door.

"You still decent Chere?" Remy asked.

"Yes..." Her meek reply came, opening the door to look in on her.

"Here, nice and big too, you don't need to go worrying. I leave you be now, just come when you be ready." Remy said with an earnest smile, hanging it on the hook and leaving her to it.

Settling down at the table with a sandwich of his own and his coffee now perfectly cooled, he savoured a sip with an eye to his little friend munching mechanically on cookies, his Petit Ange. She was his go to girl, always keeping an eye on his place and the neighbourhood, always with fresh dirt and news when he needed it. It didn't hurt that more often than not when she came calling she had tres belle femme in her company, something about her always seemed to attract the fresh faces looking to make it big.

"Smurfette bitch and a werewolf?" Remy asked, a nod her reply with her nibbling bird like at a cookie she had no appetite for now.

"So they like us then." Remy said, a statement not a question.

"I'm sorry Remy." Jubilee whispered, setting the box down and throwing the moistened cookie to the sink.

"You only need be sorry when you take the last of anything without asking Petit, you never need be sorry when you in trouble and need somewhere to go. Bien?" Remy assured, thankful to see even a gloomy smile fighting her stubborn lips.

The door to the bathroom opened, light feet treading over his floor and catching a glimpse of her in the reflection cast by his microwave. He didn't move, figuring she'd need to feel safe and in control as she darkened the hall. There was still one sandwich left on the counter tempting her, luring her on in. Jubilee followed his lead staying curled up with her knees drawn to her chest to give space that was easy for her to offer. Catching a chair with his toe, he offered it to her, smiling kindly as she sat at the counter with plenty of space between them.

"Thank you." The girl said softly, looking to enjoy her sandwich this time rather than trying to fill whatever hole had found its way to her stomach.

"To keep things honest with us, let me introduce myself Chere. Remy LeBeau, though around here I be Rembrandt Laurence, Remy still works you see. Your little guardian ange this evening is Jubilee." Remy said in greeting.

"Rogue." Her answer came.

"Another free spirit? Bon, you'll fit in fine here. You can have my room when you feel like sleeping, and don't you worry. I need be up soon enough, the Agency hates it if we be tardy for a shoot and I have bills to pay. Petit?" Remy explained, turning to his little friend.

"I'm not going anywhere, don't got nowhere to be anyway." Jubilee said, separating a cookie to eat the icing.

"Then it's settled, you be my guest then Rogue, stay as long as you like and don't you worry. You tell us anything you need to in your own time, Petit doesn't look like much but she's a genuine Firecracker. Anyone come around that shouldn't, well they either be running or enough noise be going around that get the Police here to be sending them off." Remy assured, wishing he could banish the fear and worry from her emerald eyes.

"I'll go get some fresh bedding for you when you feel like retiring for this evening, well...it be morning now. You just let the surf lull you to sleep, the gentle Pacific." Remy said, leaving to tend to his promise.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Sleep had come far easier than she had thought, though it wasn't a restful one as her mind was prowled by nightmares that felt all too real and visions that haunted her on waking. Remy was gone just like he had said, creeping from his room to head to the bath. Out in the livingroom the girl she now knew to be Jubilee lay fast asleep on the sofa, curled up under blankets twisted about her. Through the slatted blinds she could see the beach with the waves rolling in, hearing the cry of gulls and people enjoying their day. Damp with sweat, she closed the door behind her and slipped out of the robe.

Thinking it a dream she looked at herself in the mirror and saw the truth of it, her once plain brown hair was now streaked blonde, toying with a lock and seeing it went right to the root. The nightmare came back to her then, holding her hand in front and thinking of the horrors she'd seen. With a hiss of pain claws sprung forth from the very tips of her fingers, her stomach turning knots as she felt sick. Through some small miracle they vanished but she couldn't stop thinking of how they lay just beneath the surface with her fingers now tipped red in her own blood.

"Oh god it's real..." Rogue whispered, turning the taps on and washing her hands until the red had vanished.

Thoughts not her own filled her, the nightmares returning unbidden though flashes that had her huddling in the shower stall. She knew his name, the man who had done this to her, forced her to protect herself in that most awful way. Some dark part of her mind laughed at her when she thought of how she had killed him, a sweet sadistic voice promising her it took more than that to kill him. She knew without knowing why she was safe for now, that another would take her place for what they had wanted her for.

Pushing back the self pity, she steeled herself to do what she could, to try and save that girl from what she had suffered. Wiping her eyes with the hem of her borrowed robe, Rogue rose and crept through the apartment looking for a phone. She didn't know how she knew the number, but she called collect and waited as it rang just hoping they'd accept. She felt a bit of relief when someone picked up, a woman with a kind voice.

"Hello, this is the Xavier's School for Gifted children but you must know that. Jean Grey speaking." Jean said soothingly.

"Please believe me, I can't tell you how I know this. But someone is going to try and kidnap Lorna Dane, someone named...Magneto if that makes any sense." Rogue whispered, trying to keep her voice even and failing.

"Are you alright?" Jean asked, no disbelief in her voice.

"I, I don't know. They tried to kidnap me, but I just know they're going to try her next. You have to save her. He, Magneto wants to hurt people, change them someway." Rogue croaked with her voice breaking.

"I promise we'll help her, we can help you too, can you tell me where you are?" Jean swore, trying to sooth her over the phone.

"I just want it to stop, I just want it to be over, to be left alone so I can go back to a normal life." Rogue whimpered on the line, curling up in the chair.

From the livingroom she could hear the creak of the sofa and a yawn, fearing the whole time she might have woken her. Hanging up the phone, the last thing she heard was Jean's voice swearing she could help but she just couldn't believe anyone could help her. Trying to get a hold of herself and her frayed emotions, she saw a concerned head poke in with the wall hiding everything from her nose down. It looked like a childish gesture and she had to laugh, Jubilee backing into the kitchen to settle down in the far corner without a word.

"You okay?" Jubilee asked, trailing her fingers down her own cheeks in pantomime of Rogue's tear stained ones.

"I don't know." Rogue whispered.

"You know them?" Jubilee pressed.

"No, at least I didn't. I just..." Rogue said, heaving a sigh as she struggled to find the words to express her confusion.

"Hey, my bad, you don't gotta say nothing. Last question I swear, did it just happen for you?" Jubilee asked, wiggling her fingers.

"It?" Rogue asked.

"Yeah, the moment ya found out you're different and I'm not talkin' Miss Alabama in So Cal." Jubilee said, conjuring a sparkling spurt of fireworks from her finger.

"Yeah." Rogue nodded, biting her lip as she forced down that memory.

"Well, if ya need someone to talk to me and Remy are here for ya. Though I guess ya kinda got a short straw or something, I figured that out fast why you were bundled up on a beach." Jubilee said softly.

"Did I...hurt you?" Rogue asked, some relief coming when Jubilee just shook her head.

"Eh, just felt like that time I had my thumb on a cord prong plugging it in. Okay, enough of this downer stuff. You can have first dibs on the shower and I'll go raid Remy's closet to see what he's got that you can rock." Jubilee insisted, climbing to her feet and heading off.

Thinking a shower might breath a bit of life back into her, she didn't argue as she headed off. Hanging the robe and twisting the knobs to toy with them finding just the perfect temperature, she climbed in under the spray and let the soothing heat creep into her shoulders and wash clean her tear stained cheeks.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Waiting until she heard the shower running, Jubilee turned on the television and threw it to the local news, watching for any sign of what had happened last night. Leaving a body behind and some crazy Smurf was bound to make things around the scene sketchy, even worse if anyone had seen enough of them to go calling the cops. She'd managed to stay ahead of all that this whole time and she wasn't about to go getting nabbed now, living by her wits and petty theft until she ran into Remy.

He'd saved her from that life, always keeping some bank in her back pocket for just keeping an eye on his pad and an ear out for anyone asking questions about him. She didn't know just what he had to worry about, you just didn't go asking those kinda questions on the street. He even scored her some modelling gigs, Mister Hot Stuff himself one of his Agencies golden boys. Seeing nothing on the tube, she turned the volume up and headed to his room looking for something for Rogue to wear.

Cotton slacks and some sexy green silk shirt were thrown on the bed, remembering a time he'd worn them. Just because she was thirteen didn't mean she didn't have a libido, she'd crushed hard on him when first meeting him but she knew there was no way it could ever be. Her older friends though, they were the lucky ones. Finding some lambskin gloves she added it to the pile, figuring that would have to do for now. Girl didn't have much, so she swore to take her out for a much needed shopping trip to get her some genuine So Cal wear that would let her keep her skin under wraps but still flaunt it.

Setting it outside the door and yelling in to Rogue, she hopped back on the sofa and kept watching the news still having heard jack squat so far. Dead bodies on the beach usually were big news, shutting the place down for police investigations and all the usual speculation from hosts. Inner city violence spilling out onto their slice of paradise, harshing their mellow and ruining their good vibes. It wasn't to say they didn't have problems, far be it, but even still she never worried about drive-bys. The moment the top story turned out to be a Hollywood who's cheating on who she figured they'd somehow lucked out.

Peeking her nose into Remy's fridge feeling her appetite return, breakfast became some leftover Thai takeout and a can of coke. Kicking her feet at the table munching away, she peeked out into the hall when the shower stopped, another plate already set with a bottle of his Itallian spring water waiting. By the time Rogue showed up dressed Jubilee already had her breakfast finished, washing her dishes in the sink.

"My turn, if ya don't like that just go snooping. He totally doesn't mind. Might be some goodies hiding too behind his health kick stuff, I know he hides stuff he doesn't want me snooping outta my reach. Peace." Jubilee said, bouncing past for her turn at the shower.

A peek in a drawer found some of that incense he used for his sexy time, freshening up the small bath with the scent of smoky lilac. Stripping and jumping in, the one thing she loved about apartment living was near endless hot water. Crashing on friends couches who rented houses always meant dealing with a finite limit of hot water, meaning first come first served. Waking close to noon had her always on the short end of that stick but beggars couldn't be choosers.

Rinsing the last of the conditioner outta her hair, she cranked the heat for a scalding blast before finishing her shower. Looking through his assorted array of styling products, she threw some random gel in her hair and went with whatever would come of her post shower wet look. Towelling off, she dressed and danced out of the humid air to rush off to the balcony to greet the new day. Sure enough Rogue was sitting in a nearby chair, sipping a glass of water and staring out at the ocean.

"Okay that so doesn't work for you. I was totally gonna take you shopping before but now it's a mission, find you a style that works for your quirk. C'mon, my treat." Jubilee said, brazenly reaching down to take her hands.

"What?" Rogue asked warily.

"Shop Ping. Ya know, commerce. I give them money so you walk out with clothes. Don't even think about giving me lip, I saw your ratty knapsack already. You're fresh off the bus. It's no big, I'll just deal with Remy's Art Teest photographer for a shoot to get back my bank." Jubilee assured, leading her off to the door.

Pushing the reluctant girl out the door, she found the key Remy had given her at some ungodly hour of the morning for just such an occasion. She had her favourite 'New to You' shops to hit up, as well as those knock off joints that let ya dress the part without droppin' the bucks. The sun was high, the breeze was cool, and it was California baby. What else did a girl need Jubilee mused.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-


	2. Chapter 2

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made by this work.

"I don't know what you're brooding about, but keep it up Remy!" Suzanne cheered, her shutter a flurry capturing the brooding man dressed for a fall catalogue.

"Glad I could be of service." Remy said, his eyes staring off into the distance thinking about his morning.

"I knew those contacts would set this shoot off, glacial blue with those cheek bones of yours. You are my faux nordic god." Suzanne purred, shouting some orders at him for how he was to pose just then.

Leaning against the prop tree, a foot raised for support and his hands in his pockets looking casual, he looked right through her when she beckoned for his attention. Only half listening, he could tell she was pleased with the effect as he wondered just where the Rogue who had come into his life was then, what mischief his Petit Ange was getting into. The snapping of fingers brought him back, looking to find Suzanne in his face looking harried and hurried.

"Welcome back, okay go hit wardrobe and get ready for the last set, I just have to finish up with Fernando and then we can go get cocktails." Suzanne urged, taking him under the arm and pushing him off.

"Fred?" Remy teased, pleased with the scowl the photographer threw at him.

"It's officially Fernando now, play nice." Suzanne chastised, turning to great the latest model to grace her shoot.

Stepping into the change room, he disrobed and placed all the garments back on the rack waiting for the true stars of the shoot to be welcomed in. Clothes make the man he'd been told, but as Suzanne always said it took the right kind of man to sell the dream. It was her job to work with him to evoke these fantasies that would stir some soul to buy it, dress it, and dream it. Dressed and ready, he took his seat and waited with an aide bringing him an espresso and another of the days paper. Snapping it open, he kept an eye for anything that fit with his little angel's tale from last night, nothing found for better or worse.

Throwing it with the rest, he resisted the urge to rub his eyes with the contacts there at the moment, hiding a secret he usually kept behind sunglasses so suiting of the playground of surf and endless skies. Watching Fernando pose for the energetic photographer, he remembered his first meeting with her sitting out on a patio with a much needed and savoured frosty cold beer when he'd heard a shutter capture him. Fearing the worst at first, instead he was greeted with a business card pushed across the table as she joined him. That had been the start of it all, some of the easiest work in his life next to what he did best.

Waiting for the scenery of the shoot to be changed, Fernando joined him with an aide bringing a fresh round of espresso for both. The man liked to think him his rival at the agency, but Remy wondered what the man would really think if he knew what it took to be his rival. Passing off a paper, he watched Suzanne yell orders to the men fighting with a very heavy looking fake mountainside.

"How's Jubilee?" Fernando asked making small talk.

"What interest is it to you homme?" Remy asked, still staring off at the men toiling and taking a bit of pleasure from it.

"Just been a while since I've seen her raiding the catering." Fernando replied, flipping to the daily horoscopes.

"She be staying out of trouble, for the most part." Remy mused, hoping it stayed that way.

"Hmm, that's good then. Suzanne talk to you?" Fernando inquired, flipping pages.

"So many questions?" Remy asked far more pointedly this time.

"Just some gossip I heard, was just wondering if there was any truth to it." Fernando said blandly, sipping his espresso with a look got the woman marshalling the workers to one last shift of the mountainside.

"Oh, gossip? Just what sort?" Remy inquired.

"What interest is it to you?" Fernando questioned, turning the tables with a smirk.

"Touche, and no but we be on for cocktails later." Remy chuckled, holding the man in his false icy blue eyes.

"Just that some have been seeing her talking with some from other agencies, fuelling rumours she might be jumping ship. I don't know about you, but I don't think we'd be getting the work we do without her." Fernando whispered as he leaned in.

"Now that is interesting. Well, if anything equally interesting be said over drinks maybe we talk again." Remy replied though thinking of how to make it all work out for him were it to be found true.

"Well, I better get changed. Got a call back, don't want to be late for it." Fernando remarked before finishing the last sip of his coffee.

Hearing the call of his Mistress as it were, Remy followed suit and finished his espresso and slipped from his seat to head on off to the set.

"Another audition?" Remy asked over his shoulder.

"Oui." Fernando said lightly.

"Bonne Chance, au revoir." Remy replied with a bow, turning to head off to his fate.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

"Here, throw this on and lemme see." Jubilee said throwing another shirt over the dressing room door.

Leggings had been picked out, shorts both some long and baggy with a few short and hugging. Long sleeved shirts were a necessity, her friend toying with styles as Rogue herself enjoyed the seclusion and privacy behind the slatted door. There were some hoodies of light fabric too, short sleeved for the most with a couple having no arms at all. It all worked with the right accessories Jubilee had said, Rogue looking in the mirror and finding she could smile at the person she saw there.

Gone was the runaway fleeing her home and the problems there, the girl that wished she could just curl in on herself and hide from the world. The first bit of kindness she'd known crossing the country had come just when she needed it the most, pushing aside the thoughts of what would have happened to her had she been left on the beach last night. Unbidden came the face of the man with two names, how gentle he had been last night to her, always assuring her she had no worries even if all she had known since that awful day had been fears and shame.

Stepping out, Rogue looked around for the girl only to see her rushing back with a pair of boots and some lady cursing at her back. Laughing at the scene as Jubilee threw them down grinning up at her, she tried them on and found them far more comfortable than her road ragged and worn shoes.

"Lookin' good, gotta figure out some gloves for ya that work. Right now ya look like you're just gonna get OJ on someone, if they don't fit ya must acquit!" Jubilee said in honest admiration.

"Thank you." Rogue said, toying with her friends rebellious hair.

"No problemo, grab what ya like. I got enough dough, then it's totally time to get some grub." Jubilee said, snatching up her basket filled with her own purchases.

Swearing to find someway to replay the generosity, she followed along and tried to ignore the snippets of conversation as she passed, the snide remarks and just the overall sense of wrong of some of the other shoppers. Ever since catching the bus filled with the masses she'd been looking at people differently though she didn't know why. Flashes of teeth provoked her, had her clenching her fists fighting the urge to stalk up to them in challenge. Other things excited her, the running of people flagging down the bus as it pulled to stops.

She could only wonder she would have handled it had it not been for her new friend somehow grounding her, always drawing her back from the brink with her cheerful way and easy manner, talking enough for them both. It helped her put everything that had happened to her into the past, to find the fresh start she'd come looking for at the very edge of the world. Past the Pacific were just places she'd heard about, seen in movies, nothing she could ever imagine as being as real as where she was this moment. It could all be forgotten or pushed of to be deal with someday in the future, always another tomorrow following the sun setting against the waves.

Chatting to the lady at the cash as if they were old friends, Jubilee argued a few of the prices that came up on the register that didn't match. She told the woman just what was being worn out, snatching off the tags to pass them over to be tallied up. Helping with the bags, Rogue waited at the end keeping an eye on the bill and swearing she'd find someway to pay back the debts that were piling up. Though as her friend tried to take her own bag, she refused figuring she could at least carry the shopping as they stepped out into the street.

"Okay, whaddya want for lunch?" Jubilee asked, hopping up atop a bench to tip toe across the back.

"A hotdog is fine for me, you've already done so much." Rogue said.

"Pfft, I don't do street meat. If ya want something off a cart I know a great one that we can get some awesome Indian at." Jubilee brushed off, jumping from the bench to a trash can.

"You're the one who's paying Jubilee, you get to choose." Rogue said, watching her jump again to land in a crouch.

"Like I'd make ya eat something ya don't like, we'll head that way but if anything has ya going nom just tell me." Jubilee said skipping back to her feet and leading the way.

Tormented with the aromas wafting from the patios they walked past, the bars and restaurants, Rogue felt the growl rolled out of her belly that rumbled in her chest. Something primal gnawed at her, something she fought against walking through the crowd until a new scent filled the air with the relief coming as her friend rushed to the cart to join the line. Waved off, Rogue stood watching as every patron served meant they were one step closer. Throwing a fistful of cash down, Jubilee ordered up in the language of the cuisine, the man filling take out dishes full of rice and seasoned meats with a warm flat bread served in a paper bag.

"Got ya a mild, little bit of surf and turf. Ya got some shrimp and some sweet ass beef that rocks, trust me. C'mon." Jubilee said leading them off to some wall that stood over the sidewalk.

"Thanks." Rogue said, opening hers up and feeling her hunger gnaw at her.

"Try it first and then thank me." Jubilee grinned, digging in to her own.

Doing as she was bidden and trying a piece of shrimp first, Rogue couldn't help her moan of pleasure. Even the rice was better than anything her mother had made for their dinners over the years, full of spice and colour and flavour. Beside her Jubilee beamed at her between mouthfuls, tearing at her warmed flatbread to scoop up some sauce.

"Hey Mikey, I think she likes it." Jubilee giggled.

"You weren't kidding." Rogue agreed, spooning some sauce on the rice for a bite.

"Stick with me girl, don't know what they serve in Alabama but there's a world of taste sensations out there for you to try, believe it." Jubilee said.

"Mississippi." Rogue felt the time for a correction came, sipping her bottled water.

"Mississippi Queen huh? Rock on." Jubilee laughed.

Stuffing her mouth to chipmunk capacity, Jubilee started humming the song that had Rogue laughing at how silly she looked. Eating amidst some childish antics of stealing each others food and talking about whatever came to mind, they trashed their empty takeout trays and headed on down the street. Passing by one shop though Jubilee's eyes lit up with her taking her friend arm in arm to lead her on in.

"What are we doing here?" Rogue asked as she was lead in.

"Figuring your glove problem out and having some fun at the same time. Two birds shot down." Jubilee said leading the way.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

"So tell me, did your little angel bring some heart-breaker over that I owe today's shoot too?" Suzanne questioned, toying with the olive from her martini.

"Something like that." Remy confessed, sipping his scotch.

"Oh really? Since when has my own Rembrandt ever shed a tear over someone not being in his bed for the next night." Suzanne pressed with a feline grin to her lips.

"Why don't you come over tonight and find out." Remy offered full of honey and promises.

"Well to start with you missed out on that chance to sleep with your photographer and secondly, I've come to know when you're lying." Suzanne said, biting down on her olive.

"Now that is an interesting skill in and of itself, you should be careful with that." Remy chuckled, leaning back in his chair to take in the crowd around the bar.

"You're just lucky I don't frequent the sort of places where you work your other job." Suzanne said, flicking off the toothpick.

"Hmm, well, day job be for the bills. The other one be for everything else." Remy said with a playful smirk.

"Just make sure you play nice, you were so very lucky that one shoot I was able to keep you in profile to show your good side. I'm serious too, I'm working on something big and you and your Petit Ange are right in my crosshairs." Suzanne revealed, playfully reaching under the table to stroke his leg with her bare toe.

"Oh? Would this have to do with the rumours of you looking for better deals?" Remy asked lowering his shades to reveal the contacts he still wore from the shoot.

Tutting at him in a scolding way, she waved her finger for another round instead, looking around the bar through the artists eye that had made earned her name and reputation. Following her gaze he imagined the world as she saw it looking on a couple reaching in for a kiss, pictured just how she'd capture the empty table with it's glass full of slowly melting ice. Watching her do what she did best, he at the bar in the light of his lively hood picking out the suckers and losers that he could milk at a card table.

"Don't go believing everything you hear. Just don't go pressing your luck, if I can make this work I'm sure we'll all be very happy with the outcome." Suzanne assured.

"You had my curiosity, you trying to get my attention now?" Remy grinned, finishing his drink.

"Come back with that pretty face and find out. What do you always say? Bonne Chance? Au revoir, my Rembrandt." Suzanne said, throwing some cash on the table before excusing herself.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

"Are you sure about this?" Rogue asked looking to impish girl beside her.

"For starters I didn't buy it for ya so ya could just be a poser, it's not a fashion statement. Second, no one's gonna question you decked out as ya are. So c'mon and trust me girl." Jubilee said.

They had dropped off the rest of their haul off at Remy's Pad as Jubilee called it, but right now Rogue wondered if she hadn't bit off more than she could chew. Helmet, gloves, and pads had her blending in with the people enjoying the bike path even if she was scared out of her wit. In hand was her longboard that had been bought second hand, a tune up of off the shelf parts had it better than it when it was new Jubilee swore.

"You've rode a bike right?" Jubilee asked, sipping her smoothie.

"Bikes have brakes." Rogue replied, staring down at the asphalt that looked painfully hard and hot.

"Okay, I mean yeah there's some cool shit and stuff ya could do on this but this ain't riding the rails, doing ollies and jumps and tricks. This is just another kind of surfing at it's core girl, you can try the cool stuff out once you're chill enough not to a face plant. Right now you're just riding the wave." Jubilee explained.

"Face plant? What? Wait a minute..." Rogue started fretfully.

Jubilee grinned as if she had been waiting for that question the entire time, pulling out a mouth guard and silencing any further protest. Siding with her on her own board, Jubilee threw a wink and pushed them both off. Holding hands, her own in some skate gloves while Jubilee just had some sturdy looking work gloves, they ripped down the asphalt path along the beach with their boards pulled tight together in a dance over the blacktop.

It took some false starts, watching how easily her friend worked it to catch on, but after a while Rogue felt she was getting it. Her feet felt sturdier on the deck, kicking for speed figuring out just to guide herself.

"This is...kinda fun..." Rogue said after spitting her guard out.

The wind was in her hair and hearing the roar of the distant surf she could almost imagine she was riding those crashing waves instead of the winding road through the sandy beachfront. People made way for them when they could, other times she just ate sand instead when she couldn't figure out how to stop in time. The first fall was the hardest to get up from, but as Jubilee stood over her with a gloved hand offered she got back up to try again.

"Knew you'd like it." Jubilee said as they sailed along.

The secret she kept the whole while though had been watching as those cuts and scrapes she earned heal before her eyes, no idea how to explain the blood that stained her clothes. Badges of honour Jubilee called them, laughing off her own trickling cuts and rough red rashes. With that same wind in her face and the scent of blood in the air something awoke in her and pressed her on, forcing her to quicken her pace. Throughout it all she had a shadow at her back laughing aloud and challenging her, tearing past doing some little dance atop her board.

Sometime later laying in the sand with the waves rolling in reaching for them, Rogue looked to the girl next to her and smiled gratefully at her. Sweaty, sore and the least out of the pair to still be bleeding red, Rogue reached out for a classic high five that was eagerly returned.

"Thank you." Rogue said watching the sun fall from its lofty heights to crash into the ocean.

"Cha, for what? I had a blast and you got some threads that don't paint ya like some tourist." Jubilee said.

"For everything." Rogue replied, still not sure just what that meant.

"Whatev, we buds right?" Jubilee asked, holding her fist out.

She didn't know how a girl she had just met yesterday could place so much trust in her, but looking at her she just didn't care. Raising her own fist up their knuckles crashed together cementing their friendship just when Rogue needed one the most. Out there on the beach people laughed and joked, splashed and played, but right now all she cared about was laying with her back to the earth and staring up to the sky above watching the blue fade with the crimson clouds burning on the horizon.

"Friends, definitely." Rogue answered savouring the word as it passed her lips.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Sitting in the back of some seedy bar, Remy listened to the news play highlighting the debate that looked to be taking a step back in time, the argument for Mutant Registration. Drawing lines in the sand and forcing people to step across, just so that they could be persecuted as was so openly done in the past that had many still fighting at the dawn of the new millennium. As a man who lived by many names he wasn't too worried, so many lives already played out across the country months at a time until moving on.

Forced to the very coast this time with another name to call himself by, fate had handed him a chance to try a somewhat honest life for a change of pace. He still wondered just how long it would last until his past came catching up to him, but it was all just part of the dangerous game he played. Looking to the last who joined the game, the door was slammed shut quieting the ruckus from the bar now in full swing.

"Well if it isn't the pretty boy." One man laughed as he took his seat.

Toying with his chips, Remy looked at him and placed him from another game now a month past. He'd been one that had known when to fold, cashing out and taking his winnings before the end. The others hadn't the sense or the luck, it'd been a good night indeed. The look in the eyes of another had his visit to the washroom explained, surly having gone to powder his nose.

"Going to stick around the whole game this time homme?" Remy asked of the first, catching from the corner of his eye how the rest looked at the past player.

"Depends on the cards." The man said, buying into the game.

It was enough to get the rests attention of himself and onto the other, letting them drive all the pots up as the hands were dealt. Favouring coffee and pulling a flask at times to pour a belt in, it kept them off his case as most sat with bottles at their side or some trips to the can as the cards were sent across the felt.

"So pretty boy, what brings you to this part of town? Run out of games to hustle?" The man asked some hands on.

Staring at him as he savoured a sip of his brew, something about the mans eyes tickled the back of his neck with the hairs climbing. Toying with some chips, Remy bought his way into the pot as the bidding went around the table. Another card joined the first, rapping his knuckles to the table and letting someone else make the move, wondering just what it was about the man across from him that had him so on edge. Of the rest he recognized one, he'd played enough games with him over the city and knew he always had ready cash.

"We all just honest gentlemen here." Remy replied, flipping a chip in with the rest after the bid had been made.

It was hardly more than a twitch, yet to a man who made his living by reading the faces of those he stood against it didn't go unnoticed as the man looked to the only other whose face Remy knew. He was a dealer, a peddler of highs that always came crashing down in agony. The green was the same, but he counted every dime he milked off the motherless son of a dog and gave it to the clinics around town that helped the junkies try and come clean. Looking down at his hand, a wining one no doubt, he folded before the flop and headed off to the can.

It was no surprise to him when the man he now figured for a cop walked in and stood against the door lighting up a smoke. With the privacy bought at the table, Remy accepted the cigarette offered and lit up.

"How long do I have?" Remy asked, taking a pull as the ember blazed red.

"What gave me away?" The officer asked, staring at Remy in a new light.

"Pusher man was there the last time we met, you sit right next to him too this time. That and you don't take chances, you play it just loose enough but I see enough last time to know you only playing it to drag out his shit he spouts." Remy said softly, tapping his ash in the sink.

"So I take it you're not just another pretty face." The officer chuckled, flicking his ash on the piss wet floor.

"You got your case?" Remy pressed, looking at man who usually be the very last to talk to.

"Got something." The officer said, playing it tight.

"Well then homme, how would you like to see a real hustle?" Remy grinned, the thrill of a good con something he just couldn't resist as the wheels started to turn in his head.

"What's in it for you?" The officer asked.

"I just walk out of here, no questions asked." Remy replied, flicking his butt into a urinal for it to hiss with the drowning of the smoldering cherry.

Walking past him, Remy had his answer with the stony look in the cops eyes as they headed back to the table. Maybe breaking a promise to Suzanne, he couldn't help himself as his blood ran hot and he started playing the games that would end with some true filth off the streets. Thinning out the rest, the officer played it tight as he always had and kept enough to stay in the game until it was just the three of them with the dealer.

"Just you and me man." The dealer said, him and Remy the only ones with big stacks of chips left.

"You'd be amazed at the comebacks a motivated man can make." Remy replied, sipping his last belt of bourbon straight from the flask.

"No way man." The dealer laughed, looking to his cards facing the first round of bidding.

"Then why don't we make it interesting while he still have something on the table, all in blind." Remy challenged.

Remy could see the man eyeing his chips and their worth, completely ignoring the man next to him as nothing more than change. He kept the grin from his face as he watched the dealer push his chips in, doing the same and the game was on. Cards were burned and turned until the river ran between them. They held their cards in hand, toying with them as they spun them over the felt keeping them hidden.

"Ready to get this over with?" The dealer asked.

Looking at the pot, Remy winced at it and tapped his cards on the felt before laying them down. Taking his watch off he put it on the table and pulled out a roll of cash to set within the band, eyeing the man across from him while tapping his finger on the notes.

"Rolex, figure ya get eight grand easy if you pawn it. Another fourteen grand cash there, that was a nice car I see you with. Give or take where ya pawn the watch, easy twenty grand. Nice car ya have out there, a classic. What say we make this really interesting." Remy asked, tapping the wad the whole while he stared across at the dealer.

"Deal." The dealer said without a pause, reaching in his pocket for his keys.

Three pairs of cards were thrown down to the felt, the fates casting their lot as the dealer fell in his chair to watch Remy pull in his winnings. A straight flush winning out, even the officers hand standing over the dealer having thought he'd had someone trying to press their luck.

"Here, on the house friend." Remy said, throwing the keys to the officer in the final gambit to draw out just what the man would need.

A chair was kicked back and a flash of gunmetal grey heralded the pulling of a pistol from the dealers off the rack suit. Remy stood savouring his win as he flicked a chip painted in a purple glow at the gun totting thug, sealing the deal. It was already over by the time the officer had his hand on his own gun with his backup crashing through the bar. The explosion though small still held the force of a mule kick to the chest, toppling the scum in a loud crack of kinetic energy. Doors were kicked in amidst yelling as the rest of the bust swarmed the room.

Looking over the battered and beaten body of the pusher, Remy knelt holding his hands over his head with his slacks surely stained from the filth on the floor. The officer at the table fought for order, trying to regain control. His heart hammering in his chest, Remy looked on him with the real hand of the game yet played as the seconds ticked away.

"Let him go." The officer said, walking over to help him to his feet.

Protest was silenced, orders issued as Remy dusted himself off. The real surprise came as his watch was passed off with the wad of cash that had found itself a bit thicker than he remembered. Looking on the man in a different kind of respect, he slipped his watch back on to where it belonged.

"You have fun with that car now, I be sure you find all sorts of interesting things in it." Remy grinned.

"Seen a lot of interesting things tonight, maybe I'll see ya around. Name's Jackson by the way." The officer said in passing as he turned back to the men swarming the scene.

"Time will tell." Remy said with a shrug, heading off out into the night having found just the thrill he was looking for.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Rogue was asleep and curled up on the sofa, Jubilee watching her from the hammock out on the back porch that sat right on the beach. She couldn't be told otherwise saying she didn't want to sleep in Remy's bed for a second night. Rocking back in forth listening to the waves, Jubilee heard the latch opening with the lord of the manor returning home. He walked in and kicked off his shoes, halfway through stripping down to his drawers when he noticed the silhouette standing out of the blankets on his sofa.

Heading to his room, he came out dressed in boxers alone and surprised the one still awake as he climbed into the hammock fighting for space. Settling down curled up with her head resting in the crook of his shoulder, she enjoyed the way his fingers trailed through her hair.

"You eat?" Remy asked.

"Yeah, leftover chinese in the fridge if you haven't." Jubilee whispered.

"Merci." Remy said, his arms wrapping about her gently.

"Your photographer chick got any work?" Jubilee asked.

"If she doesn't she always have a friend who will. You need some cash?" Remy asked quietly, lolling his head back to look on the girl camped out on his couch.

"Couldn't hurt." Jubilee yawned.

"How is she?" Remy questioned, admiring the girl in questions sleeping form and how peaceful she looked.

"Full belly, a board and a place to crash. What more does a girl need?" Jubilee posed the question, staring off to the ocean.

"Friends." Remy said as he looked back to the girl in his arms.

"She's got me, we buds." Jubilee said, rolling her head so she could see him.

"Bon, then that be something we both have in common, Rogue and moi." Remy said staring into her eyes.

"Thanks, seriously man." Jubilee said all the more serious.

"De rein, go to sleep." Remy whispered, anything else he'd have to tell her something that could wait until the morning.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Author's Note : Thanks to everyone who has been enjoying!


	3. Chapter 3

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made by this work.

"Dude! A cop?!" Jubilee hissed, trying to keep her voice down with Rogue in the shower.

"Oui, met him last night. Maybe keep the eye out for him along with any of the usual unsavoury sort, helped him take a bad man off the streets." Remy said quietly, sitting with her at the table in the kitchen.

"Ugh, fine. What's his name?" Jubilee grumbled, munching on her cereal.

"Just tell me he be Jackson, rank I cannot say. Drug bust, that give you a clue. Maybe six feet, dirty blonde hair, blue eyes. Mid-thirties tops, don't go looking for a uniform as it was undercover." Remy explained, both going quiet as they heard the crank of the knobs in the bath.

"Alright whatev, I'll try and find out the shit on him so I know him if he snoops you out. Lets hope he's not a fashion freak, otherwise might have just given him your card." Jubilee growled, noisily slurping her milk.

Sipping his coffee and thinking on getting a proper machine for his apartment, Remy longed for the espresso always readily available at the shoots instead of the passable dark roast he was albeit enjoying. He'd have to do something about making back his lost winnings from last night, but at least officer Jackson wasn't so clean cut as not to slip his buy in back with his roll. Cops were interesting people, coming in every kind from saints to outright villains, one that bent the rules would be well worth looking into.

Heading to the living room and walking his fingers across Jubilee's head as he passed by, he flopped down in his favourite chair and watched the news. Flipping through the stations, he settled on the one he trusted the most as more on the Mutant Registration Act started playing with a senator spilling all the usual paranoid rhetoric. Hearing the door to the bath open, he tilted his head for a look and admired the transformation he saw there as Rogue stepped out.

"My, my. This welcome Rogue is looking ravishing this morning, help yourself to the kitchen." Remy said with a flirtatious smile.

That she looked bashful made her all the more alluring, that and the sway of her hips as she walked off. Jubilee was a blur vanishing in the bath, hearing that one creaky drawer pulled open as she went to light some incense surely. His usual guests used it to disguise a very different aromatic, he knew she just used it to banish the humid stench of a well used shower. Looking back to the news, a doctor that could give him a physical any day was fielding questions, some red headed beauty in a business suit and avian features.

Stepping in and taking her place on the sofa she had slept on, Rogue joined him in watching the television when he noticed her clear surprise. For a different reason than his own he knew she watched this lady on the screen debating reason and logic to the den of lines that were politicians, this Doctor Jean Grey. Wondering if she knew her from the life she had run from, he left her secrets for now as he let his attention fall back on the newscast.

"You hanging out with Jubilee again today?" Remy asked, feeling a bit of pity for the Doctor on the screen being badgered by smooth talking professionals.

"I don't know, I...really don't know what I'm going to do." Rogue said, peeling an orange for her breakfast.

"Chere, today is another day in paradise. This city, it has everything anyone could want, like all things it has a good and bad side. You stick with her, I assure you she keep you in the sun that you look like you need a good bit of to let you figure things out." Remy softly explained, clearly seeing how lost she still looked.

"I just can't keep..." Rogue started, tearing at the rind of her orange in a fit of frustration.

"Accepting our hospitality even if we only met? My Petit, she be a good judge of character that I trust, she call you friend yes?" Remy asked with a kind smile.

"Yes..." Rogue confessed, under batted eyes avoiding his gaze as she kept watching the television.

"Bon, that all I need to know. Maybe we become friends, for now you still be my guest. Now, this..." Remy said, reaching into his pocket to pull out a wad of cash to strip some bills from.

"What?" Rogue asked, looking to the cash held to her.

"You take this and help Jubilee today, just keep an eye on things, keep an eye on her. Easy money." Remy said passing off the bills.

Rogue counted them and looked to him in question, two hundred even in twenties. She didn't really know who this man, this Remy LeBeau really was, but seeing her first friend she'd met since arriving in Los Angeles sleeping soundly with him out in the hammock had spoke of the younger girls trust in him. Folding the bills over once and stuffing them in her pocket, he looked grateful even if she felt she was the one that should be.

"Thank you." Rogue said, having her first slice of orange.

"If you sticking around, well, we'll figure you out a way to make your own way. We have to stick together no? Just look at the kind of men who we be up against?" Remy said waving his hand to the television and the venomous Senator Kelly.

"Maybe they're right..." Rogue whispered, curling on in on herself.

"Non, did you ask to be different from them? Did he ask to be what he be when he born? C'est la vie." Remy questioned gently, sipping his coffee after.

"I didn't ask for this..." Rogue said all the stronger, chewing morosely on her orange.

"No, you didn't. Fate was not kind to you, so you let myself and our shared friend do for you what fate wouldn't." Remy replied without pause.

"Why? Because I'm a mu, mutant like you?" Rogue questioned sharply.

"Non, because you be lost just like I was once, just like she was. We be finding our own way now, you welcome to join us." Remy said, climbing to his feet to stand over her with a hand offered.

Hesitant at first she took it, expecting to be pulled up to her feet but instead he just held her hand in his and trailed a finger over the leather of the skate gloves she wore. Bending low to place a kiss to her hand with a flourish, he let go and headed off to the kitchen for a refill leaving her on the sofa flustered and puzzled yet without the gnawing worry. Having him so close she could take in his scent, a musky cologne laced with aromatic cigarettes and something else. At the core of it though she didn't know how to explain it, but his scent filled her with a knowledge that he wasn't lying.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

"What are we doing here?" Rogue asked of her friend as they walked to the booth.

"Second breakfast." Jubilee answered, snatching a menu from the diner rack.

Looking around the diner, the first thing she noticed was the number of uniformed men sitting down eating the greasy spoon fare and putting back cups of coffee. With their boards under the table and helmets on the seats, they had the booth that could fit four if not a squished six all to themselves. Not exactly the usual clientele, Rogue had been suffering the curious looks from many since they walked in, taking a menu herself if only to hide behind it.

"Alright girls, what'll you have?" The harried waitress asked stepping up with a pot of coffee in hand.

"Two coffees, choco milk, the waffle and sausage platter with bacon and uh...huh, strawberry jello with whipped cream. What're you havin' girl?" Jubilee read off, turning the question to her friend.

"Umm, eggs and toast?" Rogue asked of the waitress.

"How do you want 'em?" The waitress asked, jotting down the order.

"Sunnyside up." Rogue replied.

The coffee was poured before the waitress left, taking her own and watching Jubilee raid the sugar. The eyes of some of the men at the bar were on her now, elbowing another to witness the abuse of a good cup of brew as the sugar jar was tipped up to stream on in a seemingly endless flow. Throwing in a couple of the brown sugar packets in her own, she watched in revulsion as next a dash of honey was added before it was stirred. Holding the spoon just so, Jubilee let go as it stood in the coffee looking pleased.

The laughter around the diner helped to ease some of the tension out of the moment, Rogue slumping down in her booth to sip her coffee and wait for her 'second breakfast'. Looking bored, Jubilee's interest darted about the diner from one curiosity on the wall to the next, from picture to picture. Watching her though, Rogue got the feeling she wasn't so much interested in what she was looking at as much as the men about. She wanted to ask why they were there, of all places a cop hang out, but she now knew just why she had some cash in her pocket.

"You're totally getting better with that board by the way, gotta try and get ya to do a power slide sometime. Way fun, once ya get the hang of it o' course but like hey, no pain no gain." Jubilee said turning her attention back, rocking her board back and forth to slam in to the wall as she brimmed with energy.

"Sounds painful..." Rogue mused, holding her cup near her lips when she stopped to watch the horror of Jubilee having her first sip.

"Best coffee around, and seriously when my waffles get here ya gotta try a bite.

"Hey, kid? Could you cease and desist with the thumping?" An Officer asked swivelling on his stool to stare her down.

"Sorry." Jubilee apologized, the noise coming to a halt.

"Thanks. Shouldn't you two be in school anyway?" The officer asked, leaning back against the counter to engage them with his own cup in hand.

"Cha, to learn how to ask if you want fries with that? Nah man it's overrated daycare and if you say otherwise you're lyin' under oath." Jubilee groused, putting back more of her sickeningly sweetened cup.

"It'll at least keep you out of trouble." The officer remarked, looking from Jubilee to Rogue.

Feeling his gaze on her, she let her eyes fall to her cup and waited for her order wondering just what trouble Jubilee was trying to stir up. From the corner of her eye she could see him look on her with sympathy, wondering if it'd still be there if he knew just what she was, what she was capable of. Trying to fight off the stir of emotions that painted her cheeks red, she closed her eyes and tried to force it all down. Listening to the chatter, she noticed just how easily she could hear it all, from the dirty jokes and the ribbing of their peers to whispered discussions of their shifts past and worries of those heading out.

"Thought it was the Five O's job." Jubilee retorted, slouching in her seat.

"We deal with a different kind of trouble." The officer replied, nodding to the waitress as she held the pot in offer.

"Yeah, I watch the news. Domestic incident, missing peeps, double homicide no leads..." Jubilee started, her voice dropping at the end with her shoulders slumping.

More of the officers were looking their way, Rogue herself noticing just how uneasy the man across from her looked just then. The bell ringing from the short order cook toiling over his grill had the waitress rushing back and bringing their plates. As the food landed in front of Jubilee she perked up, but Rogue felt without knowing why that her friend had just painted herself in the scent of old pain, the aromas of their meals doing little to mask it.

"Hey, kid...my card. If you get in any of that kind of trouble, or just need someone to talk to...feel free." The officer smiled kindly as he placed the card down on the table.

"Officer Koenig." Jubilee read.

"Andy's fine, enjoy your waffles." Andy said, turning back to his own meal then.

"Thanks..." Jubilee said, taking the card and slipping it down in her shorts.

Watching it play out, Rogue saw the girl across from her liven back up to just as she knew her, cutting off a hunk of waffle and scraping it off on her own plate. Trying a bite of the waffle, Rogue agreed that they were damn good. Before she knew it one of the stack of four was thrown down with her eggs as they enjoyed their second breakfast. For her size Jubilee wolfed it down to the amazement of many the gathered officers and Rogue herself, spooning the jello on the waffles in some sugary explosion that had many shaking their head watching the sight.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

"Been a while since I've seen a forgery walk through my doors, what brings you to my humble shop Rembrandt?" Vince of Venice Vince's Pawn and Brokerage asked.

"Well, it be a while between tables and the last one didn't treat this boy right." Remy said, flipping the sign to closed and locking the door.

"What? Someone play my player?" Vince asked, taking a bite of his sandwich he was working away at.

"Something like that, lets just say I walked out with my ante but little else." Remy remarked, looking with a careful eye at some of the items in the case.

"Shit...you were at that game?" Vince asked after a swallow.

"Oui, might have made a friend, might not. Time will tell, I have my Ange looking into it." Remy said, flipping through a shelf of records.

"Fuck, then why the hell are you here man?" Vince asked, angrily biting into his sandwich.

"Well, I always come here. So it's not like it be uncommon, I always buy something nice don't I? Nice and legal oui? Course those times I usually find something in the bottom of the bag and some days later you always find a nice little package in the mail." Remy remarked, hoisting down a guitar to admire.

Vince looked to Remy in honest surprise, washing down his latest bite with a swig of his beer. The sidelong glance was the only thing the man needed to know, the deal finalized as Remy kept browsing. Excusing himself to the back, Vince returned minutes later as Remy stood eying a framed and signed poster.

"I made a call, scraped the bottom of the barrel. Your usual isn't on the tables, I know you don't like even getting near this kind of work but it's all I got. Picture, name...you find her, you call this number. I hear back from them and take my cut. Business as usual." Vince said, returning to his sandwich.

Already Remy didn't like the idea, people didn't come to men like Vince if all they needed to do was find out if their wife was cheating on them or some daughter had run off with a questionable man and the family needed to know she was alright.

"Let me see the picture first." Remy said taking down a rack of chips purported to be from some demolished casino from back in the days when the mob ran Vegas.

"You know I can't do that Rem, you say yes you'll do it and buy something. If I think you're not going through with the contract I give it so to someone who will." Vince said, pounding back the last of his beer.

"Let me see her face, then I decide." Remy said, bringing the rack up to the counter.

Staring him down hard as it was through sunglasses, Vince reached into his pocket and pulled out a photo placing it down on the glass of the counter face down. As Remy reached for it though he held his hand down over it, shaking his head.

"I need a shit, I'll be right back." Vince said walking away.

Left alone at the cash and waiting for the door to slam shut, Remy turned over the photo and felt an uncomfortable chill run down his back looking at the girl there. Add some blonde highlights and a couple of days worth of California sun and he found himself to be staring at his Rogue, the girl in the photo a different person with how innocent and carefree she looked. Flipping it back down, he pulled out the cash for the chips and doubled it as he waited for Vince to come back. The flushing of a toilet roared with the door squeaking open as the man came back to the counter to stare him down again.

"Oui, I'll take it. Here's a little something extra homme, I like the chips too much." Remy said passing over the cash.

"Alright then, let me just get this bagged for you. A pleasure doing business." Vince said, counting the cash.

"Something like that..." Remy said, leaving after unlatching the door and flipping the sign again.

Walking out of the shop and heading down the road, he kept an eye out for a bar finding himself in a serious need for a drink just then. Tempting as it was to call the number now just to find out what sort of trouble his Rogue was in, Remy figured at the least he could buy some time knowing he'd have at least a week before Vince started calling him for some updates.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

"What was that back there?" Rogue asked skating down the street.

"Second breakfast? I was hungry" Jubilee said swerving a pothole.

"No..." Rogue replied even if the breakfast had been great.

"The Five O? Cops know the best spots for good cheap food and I think we just got us an in to go check out the district station to look for whoever Jackson is." Jubilee explained.

Gritting her teeth in frustration Rogue could tell in that strange way her friend was being wholly honest even if she still hadn't answered the question that had plagued her. Giving a few kicks to catch up to her, she overtook Jubilee and attempted her first power slide stop with only the times she'd seen her friend try it to guide her. Following suit, Jubilee stared up at her in question.

"C'mon, I'll get ya one of those damn stupid coffees ya like if ya tell me." Rogue said, snatching her board and heading on down the street.

Two coffees and a skate down to the beach, Rogue sat on the edge of the skate park watching Jubilee work through her sugar rush on some borrowed board. By the way the rest of those around her watched, Rogue had to figure she wasn't alone in thinking Jubilee had some real talent as she raced around and worked tricks. With hoots and hollers the board was passed back to its owner for her friend to fall down next to her flushed and fatigued.

"Spill." Rogue spat, flopping down next to her.

"Can we just put this off for a day of quid quo pro when we're both low? Seriously, I'll fucking pinky swear you a on this if we don't do this now?" Jubilee mumbled, banging her helmet and against the curb.

"Something happened to me after he attacked me..." Rogue whispered, forcing the subject.

Jubilee looked up and saw the clear worry and discomfort writ on her friends face, giving one final butt of her head to the cement to the curb before bouncing up. Rogue waited for the game to carry on, the ball still bouncing in the other court.

"What if I just take ya somewhere ya can go dig out the truth from my peeps so I don't gotta go breaking this down..." Jubilee offered, staring at her feet and scuffing her shoes against the concrete.

"Who're your peeps?" Rogue asked with a shoulder.

"That's another question, you'll get the answer tonight. Pool party girl." Jubilee said, shoving her back.

"A pool party, you're serious?" Rogue asked flatly.

"Pfft, trust me, you'll like this one. Totally caters to you. So we cool?" Jubilee asked, bowing her head.

"And if I don't get the answers I need?" Rogue asked.

"Then we can hit up a Denny's or something and we'll spill, deal?" Jubilee offered with her hand held out.

"Deal." Rogue replied, giving one firm shake to cement the oath.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-


	4. Chapter 4

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made by this work.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Rogue asked.

"Totally, can't you hear the music?" Jubilee asked walking up the drive to the mansion.

"Yeah, but..." Rogue started.

"No buts! Just get those feet going one after the other, hup one, hup two!" Jubilee urged on pushing at her from behind.

Ever since the taxi had pulled past the famous Beverly Hills sign Rogue had been suffering her doubts in silence, staring off at the manicured lawns and immense houses. Back when Jubilee had said there was a pool party with her friends she never imagined anything like this. If it were true she felt sorrily underdressed, wearing just some of the things their shopping trip had scored. Without even knocking Jubilee let herself in with the music blaring.

For one panicked moment Rogue thought the whole thing were untrue with the surprise some around showed as Jubilee lead the way, letting go of her held breath as an older girl rushed to snatch the petite skater girl up in a hug.

"You made it!" The tall twenty something blonde cheered.

"Puhleaze like I'm gonna miss one of your parties CynJenn!" Jubilee laughed as she was set down.

"Finally making some friends your own age are we? Call me Cynthia, brat there's the only one still calling me that god awful nickname." Cynthia introduced with a hand offered to Rogue.

"Rogue, hi. How...do you know each other?" Rogue asked trying to clear the confusion.

"Used to babysit for the Lees, earned me my own little protege. Alright kiddo the pools drained and the band's set up, go have some fun. Behave yourself and I just might look the other way if a few glasses of something or other go missing." Cynthia said with a wink, pushing Jubilee off towards the end of the house.

About to follow after her, Rogue felt a hand at her shoulder and couldn't help herself from jerking away. Looking apologetic to her host, instead she found an understanding smile and her hand offered again.

"Lets go get you a drink and go sneak off somewhere a little quieter, get to know each other." Cynthia said, leading the way to the kitchen.

The party was everything Rogue had ever imagined or had seen glamorised in film, bottles lining the counter with people revelling it up. Glimpsing out the windows she could see just as many out in the back of the estate, people from their teens to their twenties having the time of their life with even a few thirty sometimes in the mix. When the red solo cup of beer was pressed in hand Rogue was about to protest only for something within her to stir with a strong thirst, savouring a sip that calmed the sudden need.

"So, Rogue...hippie parents or just reinventing yourself?" Cynthia asked trailing them off towards the stairs to the upper floor.

"New life, new name..." Rogue replied hesitantly.

"Another soul looking to make it big or just run away from the life mundane? Here, there's a balcony we can keep an eye on her at." Cynthia said, opening a door and leading into some master bedroom.

With appraising eyes Rogue looked around thinking it would have put most of the main floor of her former home to shame for how spacious it was, walking off to the french doors which lead to the balcony. Sitting in one of the rattan chairs Rogue looked down to the drained pool to see Jubilee leading the way with a pack of boys behind her as they ripped around. The band played some hyped up covers of classic rock to which most of the guests cheered and hollers, those that weren't too busy making amorous advances on another.

"Wow..." Rogue said, stunned to find herself at such an event.

"So how did you two end up meeting?" Cynthia asked, kicking her feet up on the railing.

Mulling over the question and just how to find enough truth in it, in the surest sense Jubilee had saved her. Having another sip of her beer with a blush, back home she never would have entertained the idea even at the odd house party she had been to that seemed so silly in comparison to where she was now. Just a bunch of teens playing while their parents were away, filled clumsy boys making advances on the girls and whatever was raided from the liquor cabinets.

"At the beach, someone...tried to hurt me. She helped me get away..." Rogue related as she stared into her cup.

"Oh, helped like...skateboard upside the head or helped like..." Cynthia asked, wiggling her fingers.

That she knew surprised her, but what shook her sense of self was that she looked to not give a damn that Jubilee was different and more than anything had a look of pure sympathy held in her startling blue eyes. Nodding as she couldn't find the words to say yes, seeing Cynthia look down so fondly of their shared friend had her warming to the older woman.

"She helped me in a bad situation once too, back when life was simple and I was still sitting for her parents." Cynthia whispered, having a sip of what Rogue could easily tell was some fine scotch by the scent alone.

"What happened?" Rogue asked softly feeling her curiosity gnawing at her.

"Classic mistake, was taking care of little Miss Lee there when she was nine and ten months as she always said, wanting everyone to know she was just shy of such a mature ten." Cynthia laughed, shaking her head at the memory.

"Well, I was eighteen myself and instead of studying for exams like I should have been I had my boyfriend over, my now ex-boyfriend thank you very much. Some piece of eye candy I hooked up with at a party a couple of months before who was already in his second year of college." Cynthia added, looking down on the party as someone called her name to give them a wave.

"Well, one thing lead to another and we were getting hot and heavy when we were getting ready for the deed. Told him to use a rubber and he kept trying to feed me some line, _oh baby I'm clean, it ruins the feel_, usual bullshit." Cynthia sighed, a look of clear embarrassment mixed with shame.

"What happened?" Rogue found herself asking, feeling she knew the answer but still needing to know.

"Kept telling him no but he kept forcing it, he...tried to rape me." Cynthia whispered, her face flushed with a tear rolling down to fall into her drink.

"But he didn't?" Rogue asked hoping she was right.

Cynthia managed a smile against the pain she had recalled seeing the concern her guest had expressed, looking back on down to Jubilee tearing it up in the empty pool earning cheers from those watching.

"He had my hands over my head and was trying to get my pants down when it all happened, I guess she woke up when I screamed. I saw her on the stairs, just scared outta her little head seeing something no girl her age should have to. I, I remember he had the balls to tell her it wasn't what it looked like..." Cynthia said with a shaky breath.

"I screamed for her to run and call the cops. She ran but he took off up after her, that was when..." Cynthia finished unable to say the words, just wiggling her fingers.

"The cops came and didn't even ask why he had burns on him, they thankfully just took him away. Between both our parents they got some lawyer that had the book thrown at him, attempted rape, assault...assault of a minor...whole nine yards. I still have nightmares sometimes about what would have happened if she hadn't...if she wasn't..." Cynthia cried out with a sputtered sob, fighting against the dredged up memories.

"I'm sorry..." Rogue whispered.

"I'm not, not really...because I was his last and the case got so much press others came forward and it turned into the twisted kind of alright that's the normal in LA. Everyone trying to make monsters out of mutants just need to step back and look in the paper to see what monsters we can be..." Cynthia said with a sad smile for the girl down having the time of her life.

"Something else happened didn't it?" Rogue asked remembering the diner and the moment her friend's facade had fallen.

"Not even six fucking months later someone killed her parents, some robbery gone bad another night I was sitting so they could go out to celebrate Missus Lee's birthday." Cynthia revealed with a pained sigh.

Staring down in shock, Rogue wondered just how this girl that had become her friend could seem so carefree with all that had happened. The smile she sported was clearly genuine, the laugh wholly real as she played for the crowd that cheered her on. Turning back to the older woman across from her, Rogue saw a knowing smile in her eyes as they met.

"I don't know how she does it either, but she just keeps on smiling and laughing and that's all that matters. Keep an eye on her for me will you? I know she's got a lot of friends out there, right along with the one that just showed up fashionably late." Cynthia smiled, climbing from her chair to lean over the balcony and wave.

Joining her feeling renewed with hope, Rogue looked down to find that other person who had saved her mingling in the crowd only to look up to them. Remy was dressed for the party at hand with a drink already in hand, but as he looked to them she felt his eyes fall on her in particular in a way that stirred something not in the back of her mind this time but a fluttering in her belly. She knew she surely was blushing as Cynthia looked to her with a 'Cat who ate the canary' smile.

"I see you've already met Remy then, c'mon Rogue...enough of this depressing stuff. I know they say I can cry if I want to, but this is my party and I want to dance!" Cynthia managed with a laugh to lead the way on.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Taking Cynthia's hand in his for a chaste kiss, Remy bowed to her before pulling her into a friendly hug with a whisper of thanks for the invitation to the party. At her side Rogue stood sheepish, taking her hand in his for another performance though this time stepping in closely to stare into her eyes as he pressed her knuckles to her own lips with the kiss he had just placed there. The blush that darkened her cheeks was nearly lost in the kiss of the sun that had her breaking out in freckles, taking a step back to give her the space she needed.

"I find myself in the company of the two most beautiful ladies at the party tonight, may I fetch you both a drink?" Remy asked of the pair.

"A scotch if you would my good man and do find something to wet those dangerous lips of yours Remy." Cynthia purred, drawing Rogue to her side with an arm wrapped about her shoulder.

"A...yes, that too..." Rogue said in a few sputtered words, that curious thirst coming again strongly.

"Bon, then I shall be back shortly." Remy purred, heading off to one of the kitchen come bar.

Looking around he saw the many faces that were regulars at the parties thrown by Cynthia, carrying on in the tradition of her parents before her as he had heard from the people themselves. As interesting a heritage it was to pass on from generation to generation, Remy indulged himself in the distraction from his foul mood that had fallen over him earlier in the day. By the time he found his way back to the pair of lovely ladies, his Petit Ange was there with a fluted glass in hand as he passed out the drinks in hand.

"Don't worry, it's just sparkling juice! Got too much skating left to go gettin' stupid." Jubilee assured passing the glass up to him for a sip.

"Well, if you be partaking of the champagne tonight you just have to give me your board oui? No hurting yourself now." Remy said, handing back the glass to her.

"Duh, I now I'm a light weight. God, I don't know how you guys can drink that stuff anyway. I tried a sip and it just tasted like burning and gross." Jubilee huffed with a look to the trio and their Scottish whisky.

"It's an acquired taste brat." Cynthia said with a sip.

"Yeah, acquired like the Hep C, I'll stick with my occasional bit of the vino thank you very much." Jubilee said with a face.

Looking to his Rogue he could see she had mixed feelings on the whole thing even as she savoured another sip of her scotch. It felt wrong to be drinking it out of the red solo cups, but this was a party instead of an event. That Jubilee had her own fluted glass showed the preferred treatment she always earned wherever she went, Remy suddenly fearing the day she got old enough to start sneaking into clubs and bars on her own.

"So Chere, what do you think of your very first Beverly Hills party?" Remy asked as he leaned in to whisper.

"I, I still can't believe..." Rogue sputtered, looking around once more clearly enamoured.

"Good to have friends who know people, non?" Remy teased, guiding her off to where Cynthia and Jubilee were off in some debate over stuff the younger of the two shouldn't have any knowledge about.

"When she said it was a pool party..." Rogue carried on looking to the skaters ripping it up.

"Way Cynthia tells me, the pool was always for her. When she younger she say she liked to swim in it, now...she doesn't swim so much so they think this be a better use. No more throwing money down the hole in the backyard either as far as her parents say she tells me." Remy chuckled.

"She's really..." Rogue whispered looking again to Cynthia.

"Tres Belle?" Remy offered.

"Nice!" Rogue laughed suddenly, swatting Remy.

"That too, I may flirt but I know they be too close to ever think of her in that way..." Remy conceded, wrapping an arm about Rogue as he stood with her watching the antics before them.

Feeling her stiffen for a moment, Remy was pleased as she melted into his embrace trailed a finger down to her waist to sway with her to the music. Jubilee had passed off her empty flute to Cynthia before rushing off back to the empty pool to show up the boys egging her on, the hostess offering a wave to the young girl before rejoining them.

"Well look at you two, that reminds me I have to go find someone I've had my eye on. Remy, behave yourself, perfect gentleman oui?" Cynthia purred, looking to the pair.

"Am I ever any other kind, mademoiselle?" Remy questioned lightly.

"Just behave yourself, you smooth talker you." Cynthia chuckled, winking at them as she vanished off into the crowd.

Left alone with empty cups and the music playing, Remy spun to stand before Rogue and look down to her for some hint to the musings of her mind. Taking her gloved hands in his he lead her off closer to the impromptu stage to join the rest in listening to the slow rock playing.

"Now this, this be the kind of music that one should dance to..." Remy said softly staring into her eyes.

"Free Bird?" Rogue questioned with a hearty laugh.

"What be wrong with Free Bird?" Remy chuckled, though she still held his hands as he swayed with her to the classic rendition played.

"Nothin' Sugah, I...I just never took ya ta be a fan o' this sort o' music..." Rogue recanted.

That he had coaxed a genuine smile from her had him offering his own, guiding her hands to his chest that he could slip his to her hips. She seemed hesitant at first but soon relaxed, the handful of others dancing with them having a crowd all of their own watching from afar.

"There be a whole lot you can get to know about this N'awlin's boy, as much as I do enjoy the finer things in life I know how to enjoy the simpler things too..." Remy said.

"That almost sounds like an insult Mister!" Rogue laughed as she swatted him.

"Oh trust me Chere there be no such thing as a simple lady, every last one of you be the most complex beauties the world has to offer, it be we men who be the simple ones." Remy whispered.

That she blushed said everything she needed voice, dancing with her to the slow opening to the song knowing it was the calm before a very enjoyable storm. Leading her off, as the guitars picked up he turned her to the pool for just what he expected. Sure enough many joined around in anticipation, Jubilee leading the way with some others tearing up the pool in time to the song. Weaving with another they ripped up to the edge and caught air, landing perfectly ride that concrete wave.

The display was hypnotic standing there watching the riders roll with another in a sinuous circuit. Out of the pack some broke off after a time to find their breath, standing in the centre calling on the rest. Standing there watching it all with Rogue at his side, it let him forget the blade they lived under for another day that they could just enjoy themselves this night.

"I gotta try that sometime..." Rogue said watching their friend tire herself out to the new song playing.

"Trust me, she make it look easy. See, even the big boys she playing with now have a time keeping up with her." Remy noted.

"Still want ta try." Rogue sniffed, her foot put down.

"Well, how about we worry about that another time non? Lets go get another drink, try and find our Petit another sparkling juice and some water." Remy said, slipping his arm through hers to lead her off.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Laying in his arms at the edge of the empty pool, Rogue wondered if she shouldn't have been feeling something after the indulgences she had partaken of. The many glasses of scotch and the few beers she partook of had her suffering nothing, looking on to the many still lingering at the party in its late hour flushed and fatigued in their inebriation. Jubilee was nearby curled up with Cynthia, the two both enjoying a glass of champagne each to round out the evening.

"Sleepy..." Jubilee yawned, having another sip then.

"Good, you're past your bedtime brat. You can all crash here tonight." Cynthia teased, extending the offer.

"Merci Cynthia, always the perfect hostess." Remy thanked with a yawn of his own.

"You don't mind?" Rogue asked sleepily.

"Nope, got the place to myself. Little miss Lee and her friends always got an open invitation from the folks anyway. Well, I better get her stumbling off to bed so I don't have to carry her. C'mon brat, down the hatch." Cynthia said, the pair putting back their last swallow.

Watching them head off to the house, Rogue lolled her head back and felt safe and secure in the arms that held her just then. Gone was the fear of being touched and hurting him, throughout their night he had earned her trust in countless gestures of endearment.

"Thank you Remy..." Rogue said softly staring up to him as he looked down to her curiously.

"For?" Remy asked with a grin.

"For being a gentleman, just like you promised." Rogue offered, taking his hand to place a kiss to it.

"De rien, a lady always deserves to be in the company of a gentleman." Remy said with a kiss to the top of her head.

Again without knowing why, lying there with him and catching the spicy scent of the whisky on his breath and his own unique aroma Rogue knew he was speaking the truth. Feeling her eyes grow heavy only from the late hour, blinking once, twice, then thrice darkness took her most easily falling into a sound slumber without a fear in the world.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-


	5. Chapter 5

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made by this work.

Waking in a strange bed, for the first few moments of consciousness Rogue looked around to see pictures of people she didn't know hung on the walls and sitting on the dresser. The sheets were warm and inviting, far from anything she had ever known since the day she had done the only thing she could and run away from the pain and everything that made up her shattered life. Slowly the evening past came back to her, dragged along to a party with her energetic friend she had made only to encounter another who had treated her to some drinking and dancing far above any of the field parties she had snuck out to in her old life.

Looking at the clock, it read just a quarter after eight and thinking of how late she had been up that was only a measly five hours of sleep. Yet here she was wide and awake and oddly energetic herself ready to face the day. Getting out of bed and exploring around found an en suite bath that was as big as her room back home, slipping out of the little clothes she wore to enjoy an invigorating shower. Stepping out on the heated tiled floor and staring at the vanity, she thought she felt just how Julia Roberts felt even if it was just for one night.

Wrapped up in a terrycloth robe, she wandered about the room snooping and wondering just when it would be a fine time to head downstairs and look for everyone. She'd never been at such a party before let alone spent a night in a house such as this, flopping down on the bed to stare up at the ceiling. As she laid there, though slowly at first she could hear just what was going on in the rest of the household. Outside it sounded like some hired help cleaning up after the party by the sounds of it, young men full of bluster making their own stories of everything that had happened last night.

Listening closer she thought she could hear the sound of a bath being drawn somewhere with quiet chatter drowned out by the splashing water. Breathing in she could smell coffee brewing, whatever it was it smell rich and bold with the sort of hiss and such she recalled from the couple of coffee houses she had visited. The knock at her door startled her more that she hadn't heard anyone approach, though a sniff had her know it was Remy just by that fragrance that wafted off him so pleasantly.

"It's open." Rogue called, still exploring the house through just her sense of hearing and the scents that filled it.

He came in with her clothes freshly laundered and looked as if he might have done the same for his own, not looking like some vagabond who had crashed at a strangers house only the night before. Left alone with him she started to wonder about him, wonder just who this Remy LeBeau was that had intrigued her last night in a way she thought a man shouldn't be interested in a girl only a few months shy of her seventeenth birthday. With Jubilee it seemed innocent enough, someone keeping an eye out for a girl who needed it, but her herself she had to wonder.

"Thank you." Rogue said as he laid the clothes down on the bed.

"De rein, a lady shouldn't have to wear sullied clothes." Remy waved off, finding his way over to a chair and calling into it like a cat lazing about.

"Can I ask you a question?" Rogue inquired, rolling onto her side and propping her head up with a hand.

"Of course." Remy said with a smile.

"How old are you?" Rogue asked, the question preying on her ever since she caught the hints of more than friendly advances last night that left her lying in his arms.

"Rembrandt Laurence or Remy LeBeau?" Remy asked with a teasing smirk.

"Both." Rogue laughed, wondering again how a man so easily made himself a new name.

"Well, Mister Laurence be just twenty two, of course the N'awlin's boy Remy just be eighteen but then that be leaving me bothered in de bars work takes me to." Remy remarked.

Hardly more than a year older than her Rogue thought, a blush flushing her cheeks at the thought that this man was just so. Yet staring into his eyes, those marvellous red on black eyes she saw whenever he let his sunglasses slip low, they felt older than the eighteen years he claimed. An old soul undoubtedly, a gentleman surely, and a rogue just like the name she had chosen for herself. That he was from the south filled her with a longing, a reminder from home of all the things she missed.

"Thank you." Rogue said softly, breathing deeply of his scent never tiring of its spicy aroma.

"Maybe sometime we can get something to eat, get to know another a little better. But for now alas, I leave you to get dressed as I have to go make breakfast. The price to be paid for the accommodations." Remy chuckled, walking off to the door looking reluctant though for some reason she could tell he was looking forward to it.

"You cook?" Rogue asked as he paused in the doorway.

"Oui, my Pappa, out of everything he taught me he stressed that there be things a man should know how to do. Many of them I cannot say in the presence of a lady, though I am sure she would enjoy them just as much, but cooking be among them." Remy purred with a flirtatious smile.

Feeling suddenly flustered as her imagination started working along the lines of everything she would like to do to him to work up an appetite, she watched as the door closed and struggle though she might she couldn't hear tread nor step of his passage down the hall. Thinking of all that feline grace and everything else, she was glad she had some time to gather herself before next meeting him as she didn't know how well composed she would have been without it.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

With as many aliases he used and let alone the enemies he had made over the years, waking up to find himself in a hospital room listening to a monitor parrot the beating of his heart, Victor Creed was to say the least a little puzzled. The man paying him for his services this time around was sitting off with a cup of coffee that clearly hadn't been found in the hospital cafeteria, a single sniff could tell him that much. At the same time the meaty aroma of a double cheeseburger with bacon, back bacon and tabasco sauce had his stomach growling just about as much as he was.

"Ah, I see you're awake." Erik remarked, throwing the bag over.

It didn't matter that it was cold, it satisfied his hunger and gave him everything he needed that the tubes and drips couldn't, a shot of protein and delicious flame kissed beef and bacon. Catching the date on a cast off newspaper, he cracked his neck and had to admit that the little spitfire had earned her stripes. The plan had worked without a hitch, even if he had to play dead for it like some show dog. Another bag was thrown at him, rummaging through it to find a few tallboys of Canadian and pounding them back. Were the nurses in this dump to see him they'd probably faint before they had a chance to get their panties in a wad.

"So what's the news?" Victor asked of Erik.

"Everything is going to plan, the disciples of Xavier's are going off after Miss Dane while we are free to capture the prize." Erik said with the pleasure of a good gambit paying off wafting off him.

That had been the whole reason why he'd been involved in a simple snatch and grab, given that everything Erik knew on the girl painted her as the perfect target. It hadn't all gone to plan but as they said, no plan ever survives contact with the enemy. That these so-called X-men were after Lorna Dane proved that much, but then again that was what telepathic suggestions were for. Waking up after dying had been enough to trigger the switch that gave him back everything that had been tucked away safely.

"She's now perfect for my needs, but to be sure to lead Charles off the scent I've sent Raven and Mortimer off to hunt down Miss Dane. Your job will now be to track her down and supply Miss D'Ancanto to me in New York, I've already put the hounds on her trail but you can feel free to go and hunt her yourself while you recover." Erik explained.

A girl that would suck the life right out of you and if you happened to be a mutant could gain your power at the cost of taking your life. It had been the whole reason he was chosen, the way to keep the blood from the hand's of the self professed Saviour of Mutantkind. Give the pup his healing factor and she'd survive the whole thing, course things had gone wrong. Mystique was supposed to grab the disorientated girl after soaking up all too much of him and his long history. The fact that Erik was here said that much.

"Just what're ya ready to condone?" Victor asked.

It wasn't often he had to ask those sort of questions to the people that hired him, usually his reputation spoke for himself as to what they expected. But Erik was different, he was one of those dangerous men who 'believed' in something and as history attested belief was a damned scarey thing. Scarey enough to keep him in line and get the job over with, especially when the man before him had the ink on his arm to tell just the horrors he had survived.

"I would ask for restraint, but that you do what you must to get her to me." Erik said after a long pause where he rallied his thoughts.

"Well, if everything ya tell me is true, she's got a whole mess o' me up in her head so that means things are gonna get interesting." Victor chuckled, cracking open another Canadian for a thirsty gulp.

"May you live in interesting times." Erik intoned, finishing his coffee before crumpling the cup.

Victor chuckled, he'd been around that whole mess of history when that saying had been tossed around as a Chinese Curse. A better part of a century later he wondered just what the men would have thought of the times they lived in and just how truly interesting they were as he finished his last beer.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Author's Note : Just a shortie to get the ball rolling again.

Piratearrow I hope that gives you what you were looking for, I was pretty much planning on setting the record straight this chapter anyhoo :) Jubilee herself is thirteen just like in the comics she debuted in.

Thanks all and I hope you enjoyed! I hope to get more out soon, as I got some fun ideas of playing with the first X-men movie cannon and twisting it to this story :)

Toodles!


	6. Chapter 6

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made by this work.

Surprised by another facet of the mysterious Remy, Rogue sat at the kitchen island nursing her coffee slowly watching him and Jubilee wash the dishes from the breakfast he had prepared. The only words she could use to describe all of it would have to be decadent and delectable, a glance to their hostess showed her with the same bliss after the morning meal. Now the both of them watched the antics of the two at the sink, Jubilee washing while Remy dried with a tea towel thrown over his shoulder as he put a stack of plates away.

"I need to find me a man like him." Cynthia purred, having another sip of her coffee though with just a touch of Irish cream.

"So you and him haven't...?" Rogue started, daring to ask the question if the two had ever dated as it seemed so obvious.

Smiling wistfully, Cynthia looked back to Remy and to the girl they shared. A hint of lust, a touch of want and just a dash of restraint were easy to pick up and again Rogue wondered where these thoughts came from and how she had never noticed the subtle scents carried in the air before like the aroma of coffee or the perfume of flowers on the breeze.

"We may flirt time and again, even had a couple episodes under the sheets, but it was just blowing off steam. We just kinda know we can't give each other what we're lookin' for." Cynthia said softly with a glance to Rogue.

Blushing at the thought of it all, she had another sip of her own coffee and looked back to the pair at the sink as they chatted and at times bickered over silly things like too much suds still on the dishes in the sink and the other critiques Jubilee's job. The affection between the two was obvious and it looked almost like an older brother with his younger sister. Remembering last night and even just that quiet time they shared after her shower, Rogue had to wonder what it was that Remy wanted if he couldn't find it with the woman next to her.

Beautiful, obviously of the upper crust of society and worldly, she envied Cynthia even as she enjoyed her company. Thinking again of the night past, she had to wonder if she was reading too much into it all. Was it all just some harmless flirting on Remy's behalf, or was it something else. Feeling flustered, she pounded back the last of her now lukewarm coffee and fixed a cup black craving the bitter roast without any of the sugar or cream mucking it up. Even as she drank it and found it awful, but some part of her practically purred as it found what it was craving.

"Yeck, prune hands." Jubilee's voice carried, wiggling her soapy fingers at Remy to show them off.

"You lost the coin toss Petite." Remy chuckled, handing her off his towel even as he reached down under the suds to pull the stopper.

"I always lose the coin toss, I'm starting to wonder if ya ain't cheating." Jubilee huffed while towelling off her hands.

"Serious accusation, I promise it just be that Lady Luck, she has a crush on this N'awlin's boy." Remy chuckled, taking up the last of the silverware to put away.

Twirling a knife in his long dexterous fingers with ease, Rogue blinked away the sudden image of gloved fingers twirling a dagger just as easily. The unbidden vision startled her, looking up to find Remy staring at her curiously. Forcing a smile, she trampled down on it and pushed it back with all the strangeness that had been plaguing her ever since she found out she was different.

"No one's that lucky Rem, I tell ya one of these days I'll figure it out." Jubilee shot back over her shoulder as she peeked and snooped through cupboards.

"I hid the cookies." Cynthia teased.

"Sounds like a challenge." Jubilee replied, turning to them with her hands on her hips looking cocky and sure of herself.

"Good luck." Cynthia winked.

"Thanks..." Rogue said after a while.

"For?" Cynthia asked.

Looking back to Remy doing the last bit of clean up in the kitchen while Jubilee rummaged and ransacked looking for cookies, Rogue turned back to her hostess and gestured to it all.

"For making life seem normal again." Rogue managed, feeling she had found some shelter from the storm that had uprooted her from her everyday life.

"This is LA girl, we got a different kind of normal here. You're welcome just the same, just do me a favour and try and keep bratty over there out of as much trouble as you can. As for tall, dark and handsome...well, you're on your own with him." Cynthia said lightly laughing with a wink.

Maybe a different sense of normal was what she needed, that and some time to try and get it all together. Finding Remy watching them both as he leaned against the counter with his own cup of coffee, she once again thought of what Cynthia had said, wondering just what it might be Remy was looking for. The question turned itself back on her though, wondering just what she was looking for herself suddenly.

There was no turning back now, somehow she knew that deep in her bones. Lost to this sunny west coast Wonderland, at least she had some people to walk that road with her and see just where it went.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

It had been a while since he'd been to the City of Angels, not his usual scene as they'd probably say. NYC, Chicago, New Orleans, those were his kind of cities full of just his kind of fun. The closest he usually got was Vegas but the fun there really started to dry up once the place started getting cleaned up of all the mob rackets. Whistling to himself as he walked down the row of storage units flipping through his key ring, thinking of the mob brought a smile to his face thinking of what a time it had been back when all those Itallian's started legendary turf wars.

He missed old time Gangsters, men that had ambition and a lust for the finer things in life and worked hard to figure out all the rackets. Nowadays all these punks calling themselves Gangsta's could use a good lesson from the pros. Nowadays the real Mobsters had a new face he was all too familiar with, Russians and other Eastern Europeans that knew how to get things done and scare the piss right outta most folks at the same time. Coming to the unit, Victor found the key and undid the lock before stepping in and pulling the door shut behind him.

Inside was an Indian that had one owner since new, him, looking like it could use some tender TLC and a trip around the city to let her run. At the far back sat a couple of gun lockers he kept some toys in, opening one to look at the weapons and fondly stroke a Luger he'd taken as a trophy once. The look on that Jerry's face after putting an entire clip into him had been worth it, he'd returned the favour in kind and taken his souvenir. Grabbing some cash and a little gold for his war chest, he figured he'd let the dogs run for a bit before he joined the hunt.

"Time ta have some fun." Victor growled, stripping out of his street clothes Erik had brought him.

He had little places like this all over the country, from storage units to just some old properties tucked away. Knowing the right kind of people kept the payments up, one firm in particular that was used to dealing with long lived individuals and other interesting sorts of people. Some he hadn't been back to since the last good war he'd been in back in Vietnam, others he saw regularly. Throwing on a pair of jeans and a wife beater, he gathered up his long blonde hair in a bandanna and threw on some shades before slipping on a pair of cowboy boots.

"Don't worry girl, yer Pappy Vic will be back ta get ya cleaned up and runnin'." Vic said with a glance to his Indian.

He didn't have time to give her the proper once over she was due, but at the same time he longed to head on out and feel the wind in his face as he tore about the city stretching his legs before he got back to work. With a pocket full of Nazi gold and a wad of greenbacks, he knew just the right pawn shop to hit up to fence the gold for some quick cash to buy a new bike. Same time he could probably find out just who had picked up the contract Erik had put out, only one man in LA that handled that kinda business and he'd surely want his ol' pal Victor to stop in and say hi.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

"You're an asshole Remy." Jubilee hissed as she stepped out of the dressing room.

"Turn around Petite and let me see." Remy replied instead, Jubilee huffing as she obeyed.

The invitation for dinner had been sprung once they had climbed into the taxi after leaving Cynthia Jennifer's abode, startling Rogue at how sudden it had been. But if that had been a surprise, just where he had taken them to go shopping for something to wear for tonight had left her breathless as he told the driver to take them to Rodeo Drive. It seemed her tour of Beverly Hills wasn't over with as they pulled out, the suave man flanked by two skater girls leaving many passing by look on with a mix of shock and insinuation.

"You look tres belle." Remy said earnestly.

"I look like a doofus, I'm changing." Jubilee huffed as she stormed back into the dressing room past the store clerk.

Rogue sat dressed in designer jeans and a long sleeved shirt that hugged her tightly but felt so very nice, the softest gloves she had ever known adorning her hands. Her hair had been primped after a few whispered words from Remy to the stylist, the man wearing gloves the whole while as he worked his magic. That anyone could make her feel that way with just using their hands to cut and style her hair had her wondering just what those long dexterous fingers of Remy could do beneath the sheets as Cynthia had teased at.

With a few bags at her feet, she now had more options for her wardrobe that all took her deadly skin into consideration. Throughout it all Remy had waved around a credit card that had never been declined or questioned, though catching the name on it she wondered just how many identities he had.

"What do you think Chere?" Remy asked, drawing her back from her musings.

"Huh, oh? The dress, it looked nice." Rogue said, catching sight of Jubilee as she stalked wholly unladylike back into the changing room.

Where Jubilee seemed to love the colour Yellow, the dress was a creamy blue with pink accents, simple yet elegant at the same time. Her hair had been teased and toyed with by a lady up to the challenge, likely used to the uppity children of the rich and famous and how to deal with them.

"I'll take it." Remy said to the clerk with a flirtatious wink, the lady smiling and rushing off to help Jubilee in the change room.

"Yer torturing her ain't ya?" Rogue asked in a whisper.

"Oui, where we be going for dinner, it be casual yet trendy. You fit in perfectly as you are, not to say you not be tres belle yourself." Remy said softly as he leaned in.

Mesmerized by his lips and his fragrant breath that was so warm against her, she had to blink to clear the thoughts of just what she longed to do to him in that moment. Impulses to tear him free of his clothes and ravage him while she claimed him coming unbidden to her that left her dazed. Yet still a purr rumbled from her chest and Remy greeted it with a smile that promised her the world if only for a kiss. Leaning in near as that hunger edged her on, she longed to find out if those lips tasted just as she imagined them.

"Whoa, uh..." Jubilee blurted, still doing up the button fly of her cutoff denim shorts.

Realizing the peril, Rogue gasped and jerked her head back wondering just what had been running through both her own and Remy's minds.

"I...sorry, I..." Rogue stuttered.

But even as she did Remy instead took her hand in his own and placed a gentle kiss to her knuckles and then pressed it to her lips silencing her. Breathing in she could smell that tangy aroma so clearly now and, with just the slightest slip of her tongue she could swear she found that taste she longed for...sweet and smoky.

"You just wasn't yourself for a moment oui, moments lapse." Remy smiled.

Truer words couldn't have been spoken as she thought to those impulses driving her on that still had her heart pattering away, wondering just who she was then. Through the set of his jaw and the worry she could smell, she felt Remy was wondering just the same himself.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Walking into the shop and flipping the sign to closed, Victor looked around at all the shit filling the shelves and wondered if anyone actually bought any of the crap. The place was filled with scents and smells that told tales of the type of business Vince really did as a broker for all the usual unsavoury contracts the underworld saw from one day to the next. Out of them one stood out that he hadn't caught in years, thinking he just might have found his bit of fun after all.

From the back he heard the sound of a bottle being uncorked after a knife had cut through the seal, the aroma of fine scotch filling his nose a few seconds later along with someone's thirsty swallow. Stepping out from a back room Vince walked up and offered the bottle, Victor taking it for a belt before passing it back.

"Long time." Vince said with a touch of his fear finding its way to his voice.

"Ya look like ya saw a ghost." Victor chuckled.

Vince nodded, walking up to the cash and taking a seat on a stool before having another long swallow. Victor had known him since he had been some little punk hustler moving stolen goods and fencing for the stupid gutter trash. It didn't surprise him that another punk of the same cut of cloth had been here, wondering just what that little pickpocket LeBeau was up to these days. One thing to be said for that kid, he knew how to handle a knife Victor mused as he took the offered bottle for another drink.

"Just...hard to get used to..." Vince said, waving a hand over his own face.

"Some o' us just age like a good whisky." Victor lied with a laugh as he passed the bottle back.

Figuring he might as well get his business over with before he got on to pleasure, he pulled out the fistful of Nazi gold and laid it down on the counter. Vince looked at it and had another swallow of scotch before daring to reach for one of the bars of bullion. There had been a time when seeing this stuff turn up had been pretty common in those shady places, nowadays people dropped bricks imagining just where the gold might have -really- come from.

"Where did you..." Vince started to ask, catching himself as he clammed up and turned in his chair to find a scale.

"See, knew there was a reason I liked ya. Ya know when ta not ask questions." Victor growled playfully.

Taking the bottle for another swig, he walked around the looking at all the trash on the shelves wondering just where Vince kept the good stuff. The sound of a cash counter ran in a flurry of bills, fat stacks slapping against the counter in a growing pile. Dragging a claw across the glass of a case housing a bunch of old baseball cards leaving a line behind as the awful screech died, he turned back to Vince and passed the battle. Taking up his cash, he folded over the stacks into wads and shoved them into his pockets.

"So just what brings LeBeau to this neck o' the woods, thought that punk was still layin' low after all that business in 'N'awlins'?" Victor asked as he forced the accent at the end.

"Work usually." Vince said after he finished the last swallow of the bottle, reaching for a pack of smokes from his shirt pocket to light one up.

Finding the pack offered, he took one and lit one up too, drawing in a breath as the smoke slipped from his mouth up his nose. Lazily blowing a smoke ring, he looked down to Vince to see the man drawing another long drag looking to find some comfort in the craving of the addiction. It made Victor all the more interested in the work that punk LeBeau might be up to, wondering if like Vince he had grown up from petty street crime to the big leagues.

"By the way, ya happen ta see some ol' fella post some work about some girlie? Trust me, ya'd know him if ya saw 'im, he's got a way o' makin' an impression." Victor asked as casually as he could enjoying toying with Vince.

Yet the sudden scent of fear and panic that washed off Vince like a man puking his guts, Victor turned an interested eye down to him while stubbing out his butt right on the glass of the showcase. As he grinned he watched Vince's eyes grow more fearful while his lips trembled to say the obvious, that Remy had taken the job. How unlike the ladies man Victor mused, reaching into Vince's shirt to pull out the pack and pluck another cigarette. Placing it to the brokers lips, he found his lighter and lit it up for him as the man puffed away nervously.

"So, LeBeau took that job huh? Well now, nothing more I like doin' in the world than mixing up business and pleasure. Why don't ya just tell me where I can find that little swamp rat so I can go pay him a visit." Victor growled lightly.

With shaking hands Vince wrote out an address and passed it off. Slipping it with the cash, Victor looked down to the man he still could easily remember as some smalltime hustler and clicked his tongue a few times. He really liked Vince, the same way one might like a dog maybe. But like a dog, there came a time when it came to take it out into a field for its one last run before putting it down.

Eyeing the cherry of the cigarette, he waited until it burned down to the filter as Vince closed his eyes with fluttering lids and a nervous shake to his entire frame. Reaching across the counter, Victor laid a hand on his head and took it in a firm grip before working his formidable strength with a skilled jerk that had the man fall limp from his chair.

"Can't have ya runin' the surprise now can I?" Victor asked.

Heading out the door, he left the sign at closed and wandered off down the street to see a man about a horse or so they used to say. Once he had his ride he'd head on down to go drop in on LeBeau and just see what his ol' pal was up to.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Rogue had to wonder just what Remy's idea of casual was looking at the patrons of the restaurant as they were seated at a table for two. Sure they were dressed in what might pass for jeans and shirts, but they looked as if they had just gotten off a photo shoot or some runway with how extravagant it all was. She felt their eyes on them and strangely enough she knew without knowing why that it wasn't scorn but genuine intrigue by many. Yet at the same time she could easily pick the interested looks of many women for Remy, feeling a surge of jealousy and possessiveness she had to stamp down.

She let Remy order for her, glasses of water set down by a waitress with frozen fruit as the ice. Sipping hers, she wished Jubilee hadn't managed to weasel her way out of coming if only to have someone to talk to. The impish girl had taken a taxi back to Remy's, telling her to have _fun_ in a way that left her wondering how much insinuation one person could pack into a word. How much fun could she have if she couldn't even touch him without killing him she fumed.

"Did ya just order me pizza?" Rogue asked as she cut through the fuzz to recall his words from a moment before.

His smile set her heart pattering, tilting his glasses just enough for her to see the playfulness in those red on black eyes he kept hidden. Sure, it sounded like a fancy pizza but at the end of the day pizza was still pizza wasn't it she wondered. Something about his smile promised her anything but, finding her lips suddenly dry as she took a sip of her water.

"Trust me." Remy asked.

Something about the devil eyed charmer across from her had her nodding, intrigued and eager to find out just what a pizza at this place was all about. There was no way these people were here for a slice you could get at any joint on the corner, looking around to spy what they were all enjoying. Looking more art than food, the other patrons ate modestly and talked much, thinking now just why Jubilee had chosen to skip out on dinner. The girl she knew seemed more at home at those joints on the corner than this restaurant.

"Your salads." The waitress greeted, setting plates down before them.

"Merci." Remy returned.

"What's this?" Rogue asked, picking up a slender strip of meat that looked like bacon.

"Prosciutto, you break it up like this." Remy said, taking his own and littering it over his _salad_.

"Ya mean bacon bits?" Rogue asked, earning a few looks from other nearby patrons.

Remy smiled and laughed lightly, just giving a slight nod though she could tell by the rest that she had just made a faux pas as it were. Trying a bite, she had to admit it was better than any bacon bits she'd ever had on her salads. Even the salad itself was a treat, full of complimenting flavours that accented another and made up for the oddness of it being served so frilly. At the taste of that dry, delicious meat a hunger grew in her longing for something more. A sniff and a glance had her see that even the steaks here were tiny things dressed up.

"Remy, can I ask ya a question?" Rogue posed.

"But of course." Remy said agreeably.

"Ya knew Jubilee wouldn't want ta come right?" Rogue asked to which Remy just nodded.

Shopping around Rodeo Drive had been his own brand a torture and teasing for the girl, who on more than one occasion had said he 'was sucking all the fun out of it' having her try on outfit after outfit from store to store. All the while he had found for her the perfect 'ensemble' as he had said, what she wore now and felt comfortable in despite so many around her.

"So, is this a...date?" Rogue asked tentatively.

"This is just two friends out to get to know another better, a man and a lady breaking bread. Trust me, you'll know when it be a date." Remy purred, his hand reaching across the table to find hers and gently stroke.

Her Momma had always told her not to trust people who said 'Trust me' so often, but given how her life had turned out her Momma's advice could be taken with a grain of salt. Yet she felt no sense of guile from him, a breath taken only filling her with the cologne he had wore and his own musk that drove her mad feeling forever denied her desires. She felt like she had an animal caged in her looking for release, fighting against these feelings thinking how mad it all was.

"I'll hold ya to that." Rogue managed with cough, having a long drink of her water to find a thawing slice of strawberry to munch on.

"You have my word." Remy replied with a light laugh that left her wondering if he'd just jested in some way.

She realized she didn't care, didn't care if whatever this was turned out to be some fling or something more. Right now as she sat at the table dressed as she was all the while admiring him down to the tight fitting dress shirt that had her envisioning the toned flesh beneath he was hers, the ladies who tried to hide their stolen looks left only to fantasise about having him sitting there still stroking her hand softly and smiling for her alone.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." The waitress apologised as she came with their orders.

Had she not been told it was pizza she wouldn't have known what it was, but taking her first slice of that delicate crust filled with slices of what she'd been told was goat cheese, her first bite was bliss. Chewing slowly as she sought out the toppings, the spinach was a surprise and the fire roasted peppers a treat. The cheese slices were tangy and flavourful, nothing like the greasy goo that smothered her only experience with pizza. Losing herself to it, she never knew food could taste like this as she swallowed and enjoyed another bite slow and deliberately.

"Bon Appetite." Remy said so appropriately, joining her then with his own slice.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Parking his bike on the sidewalk, Victor looked to the scattered pedestrians in challenge that none took. Cutting the engine and twirling his keys on a finger, he looked to the two story apartments that overlooked the beach. Whistling, it looked as if LeBeau had moved up in the world from petty thievery. Sporting some brand new riding gear, he reached to his vest to find his pack of smokes to light one up as he sat there eyeing the milling crowds.

"Here, piggy, piggy, piggy." Victor chuckled, watching a patrol car head on down the street.

Usually he wouldn't care so much about creating a scene, but he was technically still on the clock so he had to play nice. Soon as his business was over with Erik he'd have to let loose and have some real fun. For now he was content with meeting up with LeBeau and having a few words with him, if he felt like being less than hospitable all the better.

Climbing off his bike and heading on up the walk to the apartments, he started to wonder just why that scent he caught was so familiar. Same time he smelt Remy right as rain all over the place, pressing one finger to the peep hole even as he knocked. He could hear the sound of light feet rushing eagerly to the door, wondering if Remy had himself a frail but a sniff told him she was too young for that.

"Woot! You're late, free piz..." Jubilee started triumphantly only to have the words die in her throat looking on the man before her.

Her hands were raised before her but he had years on her she couldn't dream of, a quick and strong backhand knocking her clear back into the apartment a spray of blood from her split lips. A vague memory from his fight with Erik's girlie came back to him, an explosion and the stink of gunpowder in the air. Stepping in and closing the door behind him, he looked down at the struggling girl beneath him and recognised her scent even if he hadn't seen her as he had the life drained from him.

"Well, what do we have here?" Victor asked as he fell into a squat over her.

A hand was raised at him but he just took it and bent it back to the point he heard a hiss, just enough to get her attention. She tried to pull free but all it took was a flex as a claw sprung free to dig into her palm to put an end to that. Breathing in he caught both Remy and girlies scent all over this one, chuckling at the turn of events. It looked like getting little Miss Marie o' Meridian, Mississippi to head on over to New York was going to be easier than he thought.

"I'll scream..." Jubilee whispered fearfully.

"Good." Victor said, smiling full of teeth that had no place in the mouth of a man.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-


	7. Chapter 7

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made by this work.

-=+=–=+=–=+=-

Paying the fare once the cab got bogged down in traffic, Remy held the door for Rogue, the two ducking and weaving through the cars stuck at a stand still to join the march of people out along the sidewalks. Hugging herself as if to make her smaller, Rogue found the walk a relaxing end to their evening that had them an audience of two to a man busking and playing all the classics, enjoying fancy café coffees and sharing a petite cheesecake before leaving a generous tip. Despite everything he had said she felt it was a date, one that had been sweet and thrilling and filled with little insights to the man treated her so kindly.

"This way." Remy whispered as he leaned in near to guide her down another street.

Though always careful he never seemed to fear touching her, something she thought anyone should well be fearful of. His touch was something she had never experienced before in her life, filling her with tingles and shivers as her breath came short. The only boy she had ever known in her life had been nice, but he was clumsy and bullish as he took her hand to drag her off full of guileless enthusiasm. Looking to Remy under her primped hair with coy eyes, in him she saw a man full of mystery, secrets and surprises.

Noticing for the first time his hand hadn't left her since alighting upon her shoulder to turn her down the street, he walked aside her with a protective arm draped across her back keeping her close as they walked through the crowded streets. Standing so close his scent was distracting, forcing herself to take notice of the shops and bars they passed and finally noticing some she recognized from her time with the impish friend she had made. The bus ride had been a good fifteen minutes then, leaving her wondering just how long the walk would be back to his apartment.

"Ya sure ya don't wanna try callin' her again?" Rogue asked.

"Non, if she be sleeping I say we let her be. Maybe go sit out on the balcony and enjoy the view..." Remy shrugged off, his lips easily falling into a seductive smile that had her blushing at the thoughts of just which view he might be referring to.

"Does she sleep at yer place often?" Rogue asked, slowly trying to get to know the people she had so easily come to trust.

"Often enough, she have no home and many at the same time. I just be one of those few friends she trusts and can relate to, Cynthia be her oldest and best friend. I made that lady a promise I be sure to keep, to keep her safe." Remy replied looking lost to thought for a moment.

Rogue had made a promise of sorts herself, to keep an eye on her young friend who had she not been there when she had left her wondering just what sort of trouble she would be in now herself. She didn't want to imagine herself anywhere else now, date or not depending on who was asked. Risking getting just a little closer, she slipped a hand in one of the back pockets of his jeans to tie them together with careful yet intimate touches.

"Smell that?" Rogue asked as they neared the peaceful Pacific coastline.

"Be one of the reasons I found the place I call home here, something to be said for watching the sunsets in the most agreeable kind of company." Remy replied.

The sun had long ago set while the sky was cast in the haze of dim darkness that only the strongest of stars could piece, thinking of the spectacular evening skies she had seen off on those lonely bus stops in the wide open spaces left in this country of theirs.

"I wonder how far we'd have to sail ta see the sky like it's supposed ta be seen..." Rogue mused aloud.

"Maybe we find out one of these nights, non?" Remy whispered in her ear.

Coming unbidden, she remembered a time out on the ocean filled with the spray of water crashing against the hull. Smoking a hastily rolled cigarette in one of those rare moments of peace and staring up into the night sky only to think half a world away with hell to be unleashed in the morning she found herself staring up at those same lights. Taking another breath and finding the surf of the sea distant and the cigarette smoke all the more enjoyable than the stale tobacco of her pouch she started at the realization of it all.

"Chere?" Remy asked softly.

"Nothing, it was nothing." Rogue stammered though again wrapping her arms about herself and pulling free of his comfortable embrace.

Nothing but a nightmare, suffering her torment in the waking hours now that she had managed to forget after a few awful splashes of water from the sink. In those dreams she wasn't herself and only realized it after she sat gasping for breath. Twice now she had suffered them in the hours between dusk and dawn, always managing to push it all aside and fall back to sleep.

Trying to pull her back aside him she rebuffed him and hugged herself tighter and longed to get back to his apartment so she could have a nice, long shower. Turning another corner at his urging, halfway down the street she could see the ocean sprawled out there and knew it wouldn't be long now.

Distracted as she was, a nagging sense of danger tugged at her mind only to have the hairs on the back of her neck rising as she neared the door with Remy. A sniff had her smelling her own with a throaty growl rumbling from her chest as her claws slipped from her fingers. Remy froze and looked down to her with his key in the door, something suddenly all too familiar heard just then. Twisting the key and finding no resistance from the bolt, he slowly opened the door to gape at the sight of his apartment ruined and ransacked.

Rushing in, Rogue had lost any of the timidness she had shown out on the street and threw the doors open to the bath and his one bedroom to turn around snarling at another sniff. Still at the door and watching the spectacle, he saw someone else there in that moment with familiar claws flashing to slash the air in frustration and anger. Jubilee's explanation came back to him in that early morning when he had been sleep addled and thinking it just her usual colourful speech, a werewolf.

"Who are you..." Remy asked in a low and dangerous voice as he looked on Rogue in a new light.

"What?" Rogue snarled as she stalked up to him.

"Is your name really Marie D'Ancanto?" Remy asked playing a card he had longed not to.

The shock on her face was his answer, no amount of acting able to see her flush and grow bloodless and pale at her real name spoken by a man but a few days shy of being a stranger. Closing his eyes and breathing a sigh of relief, it was all too short lived as hands stronger than they looked hauled him in and slammed him against the wall cracking the plaster.

"How did ya know that!" Rogue roared.

Charging a fistful of dust caught from the one act that would claim his security deposit, he threw it in her face and did his best to shield himself as it erupted. Clutching her face with a horrid growl, he took his chance and put some distance back between her and himself easily leaping over his sofa. He had no idea what was going on or where Jubilee was, he hadn't time to worry about that daring to reassure the very angry and equally confused girl across from him. That was when he saw the message that had him filled with a rage all his own.

"Sonova!" Rogue yelled wiping the blood from her face that showed no sign of injury.

Looking on him and seeing the rage fill those red on black eyes of his, she felt her blood run hot and her heart hammer in anticipation of a fight. Stalking in with clenched fists, an underlying scent she hadn't noticed for the anger roused at having someone else defile her territory had her stomach twist in a knot, blood neither hers nor Remy's but instead Jubilee's. Following his gaze and feeling the fight knocked out of her as she looked on in horror, Rogue fell to her knees with her limbs going limp.

Written in blood was a number, call me written beneath it, all in what she knew was Jubilee's by the scent alone painted with fear and pain. Stepping past her with his fist glowing with purple energy, Remy punched the wall that exploded as that glow bled from him to the plasterboard. Seething as he stood there he pulled a cell out and dialled, pressing it to his ear with a deep breath and a shaky grip.

"Long time LeBeau..." The voice on the other end answered, clear as day despite the distance standing between her.

"Is she alright?" Remy asked tightly without preamble, a sickening laughter heard.

"Looks s'lot worse 'n it is, girl's a bleeder. Smacked her around a bit, might need a couple o' teeth fixed...providin' she lives that long." Victor said slowly as he savoured every moment of the suffering he knew he was causing.

"What do you want?" Remy asked fighting for control.

"Well ain't this just an interestin' turn o' events, I got what you want and you got what I want. I know ya can hear me kitten, let me hear ya growl fer yer Uncle Vic..." Victor rumbled over the phone.

Renewed with rage Rogue was on her feet and screaming at the phone everything she couldn't find words for, a guttural reply of the most base instincts. Resting a hand against her shoulder and trying to warn her against his games, Remy had lost the luxury of time he thought he had to finding out just who his Rogue was and who was after her.

"Who is she to you? Who is Rogue?" Remy asked.

"A job, a package ta be delivered neatly gift wrapped. Yer just an unexpected surprise in all o' this boy. Oh, and keep yer hands off her, she'll suck the life right outta ya if ya get a lil too frisky and I don't think you'd get off as lucky as me." Victor's laughter was a grating against his nerves as Remy dared find his control seeing his cell glow a dangerous purple.

"What do you want with her!?" Remy snarled losing his patience.

"Just need her to c'mon ta the city so nice they named it twice, New York, New York. Man here who'd like ta have a word with her, has a proposition o' sorts. Don't worry, I'll keep yer lil girlie all nice and safe fer ya, just as long as ya hurry. Don't go gettin' any smart ideas either LeBeau..." Victor said playfully only for his mood to drop to a low warning before hanging up.

Losing the last of his control as the purple glow overtook his phone, he hurled it through the balcony window that exploded outwards in a spray of glass. Looking down Rogue, she looked to have worked through her rage and was left spent and tired at his feet. It was something they didn't have time for, standing in the middle of what would be a crime scene the moment the police arrived. Once again he had worn out his welcome, back on the run again.

"Chere, Rogue?" Remy asked in a soft voice as he knelt down to look into her vacant eyes.

"Marie?" Remy tried, a light brought back to them as she stared at him with tears spilling down her cheeks.

"It's all my fault..." Rogue croaked hoarsely.

Taking her gloved hands in his own he pressed them against her cheeks to hold her in his gaze, his devil like eyes filled with purpose and drive. Risking a kiss, just a butterfly press of lips that had an electric jolt shock him as he felt his breath stolen, he hoped it was enough to bring her around.

"Non, you didn't ask for this, but we still be in this mess together. We get out of it together, I promise you that. Now, I don't need you be strong for me or even yourself. I need you be strong for Jubilee, we need to go now and we don't have much time. Okay?" Remy said quietly but with a voice filled with granite hard conviction.

"You promise?" Rogue asked with her voice cracking weakly.

"Oui, be just as important as another promise I be planning to keep. Lets go." Remy swore as he helped her to her feet to vanish into the night as only a thief could.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Leaning against the car leisurely smoking a cigar with a bottle of bourbon in easy reach on the roof, he had to admit that these were the nights that made life worth living. Blowing a lazy cloud into the night, he heard the first cricket chirp ever since he'd pulled up after waiting around in town for that call. Flicking ash and having a swig, he chomped down and sighed thinking there was still some work left to be done before his ride came.

Opening up the back door of the luxury sedan with those nice, dark tinted windows he found her still sleeping off the beating he'd given her along with a few pills out of LeBeau's medicine cabinet to keep her quiet. Finding them in there had him figuring he might have been having trouble sleeping some nights, wondering if he was the reason for it or maybe something else. He had her hands tied behind her back just as a bit of a precaution, getting a face full of fireworks for a lack of a better word to describe what she could do had him figuring to handle her with care just incase she was libel to explode.

"Sweet dreams, pup." Victor said slamming the door, flicking his ash for another swig.

Walking around back to the trunk and digging for the keys, he opened it up and found his benefactor staring up grimly at him with sightless eyes. Just like Vince all it took was a quick twist of the neck for it all to be over, having to exercise some restraint until it was all over and he got paid. Hauling the body on out and throwing it over his broad shoulders fireman style, he took his friend for a walk to throw him in some scraggly brush.

"Dinner's served boys." Victor said to the night, a sniff telling him of the coyotes prowling off in the distance knowing there was a bigger and meaner predator around in their turf.

Just on the edge of hearing was the thing he had been waiting for all this time, heading back to the car to finish off his bottle preparing for his trip. At first nothing more than flashing lights in the night sky, slowly emerged from the darkness a single engine Cessna making its approach. A couple of calls and dropping a name had been all it had taken, El Tigre still a boogy man from here to Colombia. Opening up the passenger door and checking the glove box, at least the dearly departed had been good for something other than a ride as he pulled out the snub nosed revolver that hadn't done its former owner any good.

Taking a walk and lighting up a fresh cigar, he stuffed the pistol in his belt nice and visible so that the plane would land between him and the car. Bait wasn't good dead after all, blowing a lazy breath of smoke and grinning in anticipation of what was to come. Thinking on it again he realized all too late maybe he should have brought a change of clothes, shrugging and standing ready as the door was opened up.

"You the gringo that calls himself El Tigre?" The first ornery hombre asked filing out of the plane.

"Well, I sure as hell ain't Heisenberg shithead." Victor answered.

Joining the first who was asking all the questions was another with a knockoff AK-47, Victor hissing in aggravation at the sully to the next best thing Russia exported after Vodka. Flicking his ash and having a slow draw of his cigar to savour the fine quality of the contraband Cuban, he blew a few smoke rings toying with the two cartel boys posturing and posing.

"You got any last words?" The first of the two asked.

"Don't miss." Victor replied reaching for his revolver.

The report of the counterfeit AK was joined by a fast drawn pistol pumping bullets into his flesh, falling over for all intent and purpose dead to the world with enough lead in him to leave the cause of death redundant. Listening to the feet crunching over the scraggy grass to lord over him, at the glint of steel of a machete being drawn did he then let his dead eyes show life. Crying an oath, Victor hoped it was a good one as he fell upon him and savoured the kill all the while leaving the message that El Tigre was still alive and well for whoever came looking for their boys.

Stripping off his shirt and digging out a few stubborn bullets with a claw, he walked back to the car and opened the side door to find her still in her drug induced slumber. Throwing her over his shoulder and walking off to the plane, his next stop the Big Apple with a few layovers here or there for refuelling and maybe a burger.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Author's Note : As that last scene played out I couldn't resist a tip of the hat to a certain drug related show with the chemical formula for pure awesome.


	8. Chapter 8

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

"What are we doin' here?" Rogue asked, hugging herself against the chill only she could feel with the setting of the sun.

Unbolting the lock and sliding up the steel door, Remy could easily see into dark storage locker that was a relic of the one favour the very man he was now up against had taught him, always be prepared. In either corner were a pair of ragged box springs and mattresses both bare of any linens. Cardboard boxes were piled to the ceiling and between the makeshift beds was a tool chest full of drawers that hid every sort of wicked tool of the trade he needed now more than ever.

"We get some much needed rest here, and I make a phone call to someone that promise me something once." Remy replied with a gallant bow inviting her to his cramped accommodations.

"What promise?" Stepping in to look around with eyes that easily pierced the shadowy veil, Rogue stood still waiting for an answer.

Slamming the door shut and tapping the tips of candles that sat around on a couple of bookshelves, once saved from garbage day, he waited until the pop of his gift had them burning to turn on her pale face cast amber in the flickering light of the dancing flames.

"That if I ever be in over my head, I just call her. She promise that she and her friends come no matter where I be. Time to see if she was bluffing or bull shitting, non?" Remy smiled, trusting his curious eyes to hide how forced it was.

He expected many questions from her, right down to just how it was he knew what he knew, but she just forced a smile of her own and walked past to fall limply on the bed and curl up with her eyes clenched tight for a very long moment until they snapped open. Staring into the pained looking leaded glass windows of her soul, he thought again on how she had screamed after his attack back in his apartment and clenched his jaw to hide away the twisted knot that became his stomach.

"You okay?" Remy asked, breathing deep as he longed to gently brush his fingers against her beautiful eyes just to see them flutter shut without a hint of pain.

Her nod was sullen and tired, full of regret and worry and fear that he could understand all too well. He wondered just how long ago it was she was planning out her prom and just what College to go to just like any other girl. Now here she was in the same gutters as him, a Swamp Rat made good in Hollywood. Right up until his past came looking him up and making him a liar to so many promises.

"I be just a moment. Got to make a call from the payphone we saw." Remy promised again, this one he could keep.

"Okay."

"You hungry? There's a Chinese restaurant just down the street?"

All he wanted was to make her feel at home, take her out to one of his favourite places all dressed up and let her having some breathing room. To just come home to Jubilee either running up his payperview or find her fast asleep on the sofa with whatever delivery she ordered up all the while making sure to slip some cash back in her hot pink velcro wallet for the trouble. Instead everything had just come to a head that he should have known was bound to happen, a gambler like him knew that the house always wins.

"Sure."

Making his exit though it pained him to leave her curled up there staring off at the cinder block wall, never more in his life was he in over his head and in need of the kind of help that a woman had once promised years before in Cairo, Georgia. Then pawning some moody gold at the fences price after a little B and E to keep afloat, she had walked in everything a punk fifteen year old kid could be looking for in some eye candy to help him through the lonely night to come.

Pulling out the worn business card she had given him back then, it had been one of the few constants in his life after all the running and new names he threw about. He knew the number by heart, his fingers calling collect with a smile wondering just what it would come to. Holding it between his thumb and finger pressing it to his head, he waited listening to the automated message.

"Remy LeBeau."

It almost sounded odd to say his own name after so many aliases used, the latest his fondest just because it was the closest thinking just maybe he had run far enough with the Pacific standing against him and a coin toss left to decided which way next, North or South. The call was taken but no answer came forthright, sleepy mumbling in the background with his name thrown around amidst the yawns. Checking his watch again, it had to be a mix of late and early on that side of the coast.

"I hoped to never hear from you." The voice greeted him.

Finally the voice he remembered from those years before greeted him, turning over the business card thinking just how to reply to that greeting. He made it clear back then he wasn't looking for handouts or help, fiercely independent after that first helping hand that just took so very much from him.

"I hoped never to have to call you." Remy replied, pressing his brow to the glass of the phone booth and sighing deeply.

"I am glad you did, it means I was not mistaken about you."

"That I be calling you now Dame Munroe be that you were mistaken in me, this N'awlin's boy fucked up big. Be in the kind of mess I hope you and your friends you told me about can help with, I got two ladies that put their trust in me. Them and a girl little more than a enfant that had to grow up quick just like Remy himself." Remy had to hiss at admitting the truth, it was the reason he had taken his 'Petit' under his wing hoping to keep her from all the pain he had seen.

"You're in Los Angeles still?"

"Still?" Remy was a touch incredulous, but then again she had come looking for him in Georgia when he was still only days off the bus.

"We have ways of...keeping track. That and a rather odd call came from there only days ago, a call that helped us save a girl. Coincidence?"

To think of her keeping an eye on him after all these years was both a relief and disconcerting, taking a tally of his sins in those years and wondering just which of them she might frown on. None could compare to the sin committed earlier, letting his little Jubilation run off home thinking her safe only for a very big, bad wolf to come knocking at his door. Driving his knuckles into his eyes and struggling for breath, had he just listened a little closer that one sleepy night to her words to think them anything more than her usual colourful descriptions.

"We need your help Stormy, me, a rogue, and the little girl I wanted to protect. A very bad man hurt them both, I be over my head now. You promised..."

He hated asking for favours but he hated the thought that Victor was out there with Jubilee tormenting and likely torturing her in his own way. He hated the thought that somehow he had harmed his mysterious Rogue, swearing somehow to make it all right and bring back their sunny days.

"I did, and I keep my promises. Stay where you are, we will find you. I will help you Remy."

He wondered just where he would be if he had taken her up on that offer years ago, but all he had to do was think of those ladies in his life, queens them all to his jack of the dishonest trades. Loathe as he was to hand over his destiny, he had to admit fate just might well have been at work just so he could meet them all. Now he just had to swallow his pride and do whatever it took to save them both, Jubilee and his secret Marie, catching glimpses of that smiling girl he'd seen in the picture.

"We be waiting for you, au revoir. I have a lady I owe dinner and as much a night sleep she be finding in a storage locker. See you soon Stormy."

He could imagine her irritation at that nickname, just the slightest wrinkle of her brow, an alias her own overheard when a man had walked on in on them, looking like he had cop written all over him down to the Aviator sunglasses he wore. Storm he had called her, just too cut and dry, but Stormy, now that worked then as it did now. Dial tone was her answer with a sharp click, surprised to find a smile staring back at him in the glass. Feeling guilty thinking again of the two ladies depending on him just then, he turned away and left that smile behind for when he made it all right.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Consciousness came at the cost of a headache that had her puking and the feeling of her arms painfully asleep, twisting and struggling to realize they were bound behind her back with no give whatsoever. Again her stomach rebelled and this time out of the awful memories of her last wakeful moments. Staring into those eyes and that predatory smile, she hadn't the breath to scream as she swore she would. Her one act of defiance had been her last, blasting him full in the face with everything she had to hear him roar full of rage. On her feet and running, she remembered again the feeling of the hand clutching her hair and the wall coming swiftly before the pain and darkness.

The tapping of glass had her look around with the world still shaky beneath her, finding something with her numb and useless fingers and struggling to figure out just what it was. The sound of a car door opening had her look up and this time find the breath to scream loud and long seeing him looming there with his feral smile growing as she struggled to put her very last gasp of breath into her cry for help.

"No one's gonna hear ya pup, so ya might as well get it all out now." Victor said between her breaths.

Feeling her terror renewed, Jubilee pressed herself against the opposite door putting as much as much space between her and him as possible, futile as the gesture was. Coughing, her throat tortured from all she had suffered and screamed, she didn't care that she was crying figuring if there was ever a time for it that now would be it.

"What do you want?" Jubilee meekly asked, spitting out a few chunks with a grimace.

"Ta get this job done and over with and see my payday. That and a few extracurricular activities I got in mind once this is all over with." Victor said with a shrug, tossing a grocery bag on the back seat and unwrapping a cigar.

Frozen in fear dreading just what those activities just might be, she saw him look on her anew and chuckle after pausing in lighting up his cigar.

"I'm many things girlie, and I've done many things. But don't ya go worryin' yerself, I ain't ever gonna be low enough ta go lookin' fer that kind o' fun in a kiddie." Victor admitted, savouring a leisurely drag of his cigar after his piece said.

His words didn't reassure her, but noticing the grocery bag with bottles of gatorade and gas station grab and go sandwiches, the knot that was her stomach ached painfully tight. Following her gaze, he reached down to snag a bottle and crack it open and peel off the tab inside. Holding it there at the open door, he watched and waited as she carefully crawled along the seat for her first sip to be swirled and spat rinsing her mouth out. Drinking heavily and not caring how much rolled down her chin, she gasped for breath when the bottle was taken away.

"Can...I have some more?" Jubilee asked fearfully, wholly helpless against him.

"Just as soon as we lay down some rules, comprende?" Victor asked, her nod given reluctantly.

"We're gonna be headed on in ta meet with the client, so I need ya to play nice. Yer small enough I can fit ya in a duffle 'n carry ya on in if'in ya don't wanna go walkin' on your own two feet. Course if ya force me to go that route, I'll be eatin' those sandwiches m'self. Got it?" Victor explained, fishing out one of the sandwiches to open it up for a bite.

Biting her bottom lip, she didn't know just how long she was out until she caught the tree line of whatever back road they were on looking alien and foreign to her. The sun was coming up from the east chasing off the night, even the air smelt different without the ocean lingering in every breath. It was a world of green and a humid dampness of a rain shower long since passed by. He must have noticed her watchfulness and approved, smirking and offering her the other half of the sandwich to wolf down.

"C'mon up ta the front, can keep an eye on ya better there." Victor ordered, grabbing the bag and walking around to the drivers side.

Squirming out and finding her legs just as shaky from her restless slumber, her feet were as bare as they had been when she had been rushing up expecting the pizza delivery guy. The gravel bit hard and she waited there shivering in her shorts and T for the door to be thrown open. Climbing in and trying to get comfortable, she was buckled up and the windows were all thrown down bringing much needed fresh air with the mess she left in the back.

"My arms hurt." Jubilee whispered.

"Too bad." Victor grunted, throwing on the radio.

Driving with the classics playing and sharing sips and bites, it wouldn't be much longer to New York and she'd be his clients problem. Not that he figured Erik would have much trouble with her, the man one of few people in the world he saw as a worthy rival if it ever came to it. That and the memory of watching Mystique blown off into the surf had him wondering just what grudge Raven might have for the tiny girl beside him.

"Ya ever been to New York kid?" Victor asked, holding the latest bottle of gatorade for her.

Spraying the dash and coughing hard in her shock, he took that as a no while at least giving her that little reward for just everything she noticed earlier. There were tears coming again and he had to figure she was likely feelin' all kinds of lost and alone, everything he wanted her to feel to keep her from doing anything stupid. Little did she know that Remy would be coming, and right along with him would be the package neatly gift wrapped for Erik.

Chugging the last of the bottle and throwing it out the window, he left her to curl up in the seat and cry softly to herself. Singing along to the radio and planning his evening, he had to wonder just how long it would take Remy to come looking for blood.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Waiting alone, even this storage locker with just box springs and used mattresses was the height of opulence compared with all the places she had found snatches of sleep in on her trip across the country. The back seats of buses, shadowy corners of bus terminals and every bench in between. The candles made it feel that much warmer, working the courage to start looking in those boxes to find one full of bedding looking to have been found in the trash. Giving it a sniff, ratty as it looked Remy had clearly washed it all before boxing it up.

Tearing off her gloves feeling how soft it felt against her hands, she flopped back down on the bed fatigued. Curling up on her chosen bed and pressing her knees to her chest, she finally had time to worry after her friend who had saved her that day on the beach. It was all her fault, the girl had been nothing but a friend to her helping clothe, feed and shelter her and introduce her to this strange city. All her efforts had been repaid in him taking her, hurting her, and threatening her.

"You should be dead..." Rogue whispered.

She didn't believe the words though, something deep down in her gut told her that it would take more than that to kill him. Remembering the look in his eyes as she clawed at his face leaving it a bloody mess that her nails alone couldn't have accomplished, they were eyes without fear but a bored waiting in them for it to just be over with. He had done this to her, violated her again as he forced something into her she could feel prowling the corners of her mind.

Holding out her hand to hiss in pain as the claws unsheathed, he had forced an animal inside her that prowled around the cage that was her mind. Clenching a fist and ignoring the bite of claws digging into her palm, she struggled not to think just what those claws could do to the impish girl that had worked her way into her life right along with all the friends she had made along the way, Cynthia, Remy, and even that honest cop down at the dinner on whatever errand it was they were on.

The sound of familiar yet distant footsteps had her claws vanish with the only tell they were there in the bloody marks on her unmarred flesh. Sitting up lotus with the blanket wrapped around her, she sniffed and sure enough there was the aroma of American style Chinese food full of deep fried chicken balls and battered shrimp and chicken fried rice. Hearing a knock, she waited blinking back tears thinking even now in this place he was being the gentleman.

"I'm decent." Rogue called.

The steel door was thrown open with the racket of rollers and sliding panels, drawn down quickly as soon as he stepped in. He looked as tired as she felt and he wondered just who he had called and what promise was really owed. Setting the food down and digging through some boxes, he found a fold out table and set the buffet complete with a six pack of coca-cola that had her stomach growling ravenously.

"Bon Appetite." Remy bid, snagging an egg roll to nibble at and leaving her to help herself first.

Piling on chow mein, beef and broccoli and rice, she felt his hand lightly touch hers to stop her as she was about to add the first of the chicken balls. Turning it over, he looked down to the bloody marks there and lightly ran a gloved finger over them. She looked to her own gloves but he just held her hand tenderly in his, clasping it between them to place a kiss to his own knuckles right where hers would be.

"I promise to make this right." Remy swore.

Staring into his red on black eyes and seeing how pained they looked, with her free hand she snatched a shrimp and had a bite of it before offering the rest to him. He devoured it just as she suddenly longed for him to her own lips, casting off the inedible tail sitting with him at a table set for two in the candlelight.

"You said I'd know when it was a date." Rogue said, lightly pulling away her hand to find a fork.

He seemed taken aback by her words, his eyes full of shock and disbelief. She couldn't believe herself too, that she could think of anything like that after all the awful truths coming out and everything that had happened. Yet here in this moment, it felt right that she enjoy what might be her first real date with everything they were likely up against. He fought against a smile, setting his lips in a grim line and just nodding his head.

"This just be dinner between two people that really need it, but I promise you this...Marie, when this is all over...I take you on a proper date." Remy swore, taking a chicken ball and dipping it in the plumb sauce to press to her lips.

While not the kiss she longed for, it would have to do right down to enjoying the moment for what it was as far as she was concerned. Dinning together with shared mouthfuls and the brush of feet beneath the table, it was a promise to the date to come once the world had been made right, a date when they would come home to find their friend sprawled out on the sofa with the TV playing in the background.

"I'll hold ya to that." Rogue posed.

"Thieves honour." Remy swore.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Author's Note : Staring to tie this back into the first X-men movie now, hope you all enjoy. Oh and to Lady of Imladris, I am so glad you gave this story a chance. Thank you so much for that kind review and letting me know you enjoyed it so. To everyone else that's been enjoying, reading and following and waiting, enjoy! Toodles!


	9. Chapter 9

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

"This is how it's gonna go down, ya step out, ya look all the way up ta the top floor, and ya wait for me to put my jacket on ya. Ya don't scream, ya don't make eyes with no one, and if'in ya try ta fry my face off then the first frail I see gets ta find out how long it takes ta die from a gut wound. Comprende?" Victor asked, all the severity of years of doing what made him the best at what he did backing him up.

"Comprende." Jubilee whispered.

Closing her eyes and waiting as the robe binding her arms was cut, she took the locks being thrown open as her signal to exit the car. Her arms hung limp and useless behind her, standing there waiting until he came around to throw his jacket over her shoulders. It dragged but she didn't care, she was doing just everything she was told to and that bought her the certainty that the lady with the carriage or the other with the hot boyfriend didn't die.

"Ya forgot ta look up." Victor whispered, stopping just short of the doors to direct her gaze upwards.

She had to admit that the skyscrapers of New York City had their own appeal, the concrete canyons built in the height of business barons vying for prestige and headlines something to behold. Biting her lip until she tasted blood as he laid his hand on her shoulder, she let herself be guided on in through the revolving door and past all the staff that welcomed them right until the elevator doors closed. Crying silently as she had learned to in the foster homes, she kept her head down as the doors opened at other floors for Victor to glare and menace the would be riders to get the next one..

"Just about done, then your Uncle Vic gets ta drop ya off ta yer new handlers. They'll keep ya until our mutual friend makes her debut." Victor whispered, the doors opening to his floor at last.

Nondescript aside from the fact that she would have used words like 'old' and 'art deco' and 'lame' if she was forced, she let her self be guided along. Walked up to a suite and held there as he knocked, she expected a butler as the door opened to see it do so on its own instead.

"Welcome home." Victor whispered, roughly pushing her in so she missed a step and fell hard on her knees.

"I expected different company with you Victor, please enlighten me."

"Oh this is just perfect."

Looking up a man straight out of a black and white movie, complete with a fedora resting on the table beside him, looked down with just enough sympathy in his eyes that she had to fight from pitifully crawling across the floor to him. But it was the woman who stepped out of an adjoining room she felt a new wave of fear from, the smurfette bitch from the beach.

"You know her Mystique?" The elderly man asked.

"She's the one that screwed everything up, what the hell is she doing here?" Mystique explained, turning on Victor for an answer..

"Wouldn't ya just know it if'in she didn't make friends, this one and an ol' pal oh mine. Just dangle her like a bit o' meat and they're both bound to come a callin'. Just send the boy my way." Victor explained, pulling out the cell to toss it to Erik.

Shivering as all the talk going on as if she were just nothing more than meat, she found enough strength to pull the jacket around her feeling cold and so very alone. Looking on her full of that odd sympathy, Erik smiled and beckoned her over with two fingers. Getting to her feet on weak legs and walking across, his hands tenderly touched the bruises and cuts of her face and with a gentle thumb eased her mouth open.

Two teeth hurt and one was just shy of falling out that she just hadn't the guts to pry free. Fighting the urge to play with it with her tongue just like any other tooth she'd lost without a tooth fairy to leave a dollar for, she hoped it was one that had its number coming up anyway. Patting his knee, she sat down with him and rested against his chest as he pulled her near.

"Mystique dear, put some soup on for our guest." Erik bid, then turning hard eyes on Victor.

"Time ta pay up, I got what ya wanted in a round about way, ya just gotta wait a bit." Victor urged.

Working a gesture with a stage magician's flair, Erik waved his hand and a briefcase from across the room skittered to land at Victor's feet. Opening it and counting the cash quickly, used to making all kinds of shady deals from general crime to outright espionage, finally satisfied he locked it up and walked up to the pair. Offering a hand, Erik shook it once concluding their business, Victor giving a wink to Jubilee as he turned his back on them.

"Keep the coat kid, somethin' ta remember me by." Victor said in leaving.

Tearing it off and throwing it on the floor, she felt Erik eyeing her state of dress and sighing in open displeasure. Clenching her jaw tight fearing she might have displeased him somehow, fearing just what he might do to her, she felt a crunch and hot wash of blood that told of her tooth torn free with a hiss of pain. A handkerchief was offered for her to spit it into, set aside as he reached for a kleenix next.

"We haven't been formally introduced, I am Erik Lensherr, could you tell me your name?" Erik said softly, that kind smile coming back.

"Jubilee." The mumble was awkward with the tissue.

"Someday I hope you can understand all this child, but for now let me just say I am doing this for all of us. I, we don't have time for niceties, but the least I can do is play the proper host." Erik explained, helping her to her feet for a walk to the kitchen of condo.

Where she expected to find the smurf, a lady straight out a fifties family comedy was toiling over the stove in a pink polka dotted dress. Erik laughed at this, guiding her to the table and getting her a glass of water to gargle.

"I was told you are quite capable by Mystique." Erik said.

The lady at the stove looked back, a ripple running over her flesh to reveal her true self under the guise she wore. Admitting to it with a nod, she watched as the cutlery at the table hovered in the air to twist and melt into a ball with a mirror finish. Taking it in his hand, he pulled at it like taffy until it was a sinuous band.

"This is my gift child, mastery over magnetism, for that reason I call myself Magneto just as your friend has taken the name Rogue for herself." Erik explained, letting go of the strip of metal.

Scared as she was, she still found some amazement in it and reached to touch it quickly expecting it to be hot, only as she found it cold did she run a finger over it. In the blink of an eye and a snap of his finger it flew at her neck, a seamless collar slipping around her throat that was snug without being tight.

"Just a precaution that I don't believe I need to explain." Erik cooly remarked.

Swallowing hard and fighting the nausea that threatened to rob her of her appetite, she just nodded and had another sip of her water. A bowl of soup was set down with crackers on the side, right along with a fresh spoon.

"What do you want with Rogue?" Jubilee asked, staring down into her soup trying to find that hunger that had been gnawing at her belly earlier.

"Why, to give her the chance to save us all." Erik answered, taking his leave with a pat to her head.

Left alone in the kitchen, nibbling on the crackers and fighting tears, she waited until the closing of a door put some distance between her and them. Rubbing her eyes and letting them finally come as she had her first sip, she thought of Remy and Rogue.

"Roguey, can you just save me please..." Jubilee whimpered, her spoon clattering to the table from her slack grip.

Hiding under the table and curling up with the last of the crackers, she let herself cry swearing once the tears were over with she'd start living by her wits again, listening, watching and waiting just like life had taught her the last time it had pulled the rug out from under her.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

"Someone's coming." Rogue whispered in the darkness, the only light a crack under the steel door and Remy's own smoldering red on black eyes.

Trusting her unnaturally sharp senses, he raised a finger to his lips asking for silence as he crept to the door. Chopsticks became his weapon of choice as the glow of his gift encompassed them, the storage locket cast in a purple haze. Glancing to his rogue one last time, he had to admire the way her pale skin caught the light so well, looking more lilac than the ever ivory with only a few sun kissed freckles.

"There's three, two women and a man, I smell...jet fuel?" Rogue whispered, taken by a memory she'd never known before that moment.

Backed into a corner was when he was at his most dangerous, with only one way out he had proved time and again he had what it took to make it through. Keeping himself between Rogue and the door, he hoped she could divine more out of the trio before, thinking it impossible his Stormy could make it in such a short time.

"Anything else?" Remy whispered, twirling the charged chopsticks.

"She says she's here to help, just like she promised..." Rogue whispered, pressing fingers to her head with a troubled look.

Before he could ask just what she had meant, the door threw itself open to reveal two he knew from years before and a lady with dark red hair and avian features. Stormy looked clearly amused by her entrance until she caught sight of Rogue behind him, the mirth draining from her features to open concern. Straight laced had a hand to his glasses that looked like a threat, the two sets of chopsticks raised in challenge if the glove was tossed. Playing the peace maker, Red stepped between them with eyes only for Rogue and a kind smile.

"It was you on the phone, I can feel you've had...much happen. I keep my promises." Jean soothingly said with an offered hand.

Taking a step back so he could keep an eye on them, he watched Rogue find her gloves before slipping out of the bed to take the offered hand. Breathing easier, he let the glow of the chopsticks fade, throwing them just so that they pierced a box in a tight cluster in unspoken threat to the man who still stood rigid.

"You saved her?" Rogue asked, fighting to keep her expression anything but hopeful.

"Yes, she's at our school now, safe and sound. We understand you need us to save someone else now." Jean said with a kindly smile, reaching out slowly to brush a lock of hair from Rogue's troubled eyes.

"D, don't touch me..." Rogue sputtered fearfully as she flinched away.

"I'm sorry." Jean apologised, a sadness filling her eyes as she looked on longingly.

Hard as it was, Remy left Rogue to the red haired beauty who seemed so intent on helping her, stepping out for a word with his Stormy under the watchful gaze of Shades. Fishing out a pack of cigarettes and tapping the box until one popped up, with a press of a finger to the tip he took his first drag as a breeze picked up blowing away from where Stormy stood looking disapprovingly at him.

"Thought you said your school was in New York, no way you fly commercial here. Just what kind of school have a private jet?" Remy asked, fishing for answers.

Eyeing the pair, it was the first time he saw a hint of emotion on the straight laced looking man next to him, a smirk that likely would have reached his eyes had they not been hidden by those curious aviator shades of his. Even Stormy was smiling, the breeze taking on fragrance all its own that reminded him of hot summer days walking the back roads between meadows looking to hitch a ride, days back when life had as simple as the next con.

"You shall just have to see, for now can you tell us just what is going on?" Storm asked.

Considering it as the smoldering ember ate away at his smoke, Remy looked back to see both Red and Rogue sitting on a mattress talking in hushed voices. There was much he couldn't tell them, much he wouldn't tell anyone, but he could tell them the man he knew was at the centre of his ruined dream hoping his past would never catch up to him here.

"The man, Victor Creed, few days back he try to take Rogue from what I be told. Course I didn't know it be him then, just think it be my Petit exaggerating again. A werewolf and a smurfette bitch, who believe that non?" Remy explained, dropping his butt to stamp out.

Looking up to see the troubled look Stormy was giving him, right along with Shades getting all stiff again, he turned to her for answers now. Instead she looked back to Rogue and Red, his own gaze following hers.

"You didn't know she called us, did you?" Storm asked.

"Stormy, I be a gambler, if she be lying that she didn't know you then I plan on taking her to Vegas once this all be over with." Remy spat, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Jean thought there were three of you there, even now she tells me...Rogue is of two minds, and the other is getting stronger. We need to find out what happened to her, and the only way we can do that is at our school." Scott said not unkindly, just in a business at hand sort way.

"How far from New York City be your school? I leave Rogue there to get the help she need, but I have a promise to keep." Remy pressed, balling his fists as he vowed not to break another.

"Just outside of it, Salem Center in Westchester County." Scott replied, sparing a look to Storm.

"You don't have to do this alone Remy, we can help you." Storm pressed, closing the distance between her and him to place a gentle hand on his shoulder.

Running a hand through his hair and hissing, at the sound of light footsteps he looked to see Rogue standing with Red looking far more relaxed than he had seen her ever since the nightmare had begun coming back home to his apartment in ruin. Looking to her for her answer, staring deep into those emerald eyes of hers, she gave him a nod that was all he needed.

"I think about it on the flight back, so, we off to LAX oui?" Remy asked, this time the trio looked again to be playing a joke on him.

"Actually, we're parked just outside Venice, give or take." Scott said, leading the way off out of the storage lockers.

"I catch up, just got to clean up. You go with them Chere, I not be long." Remy promised, waiting until they were gone to rush into his locker.

Ignoring the takeout and leaving it to rot, he dove into the tool chest and found all the things he'd need. Throwing knives shaped like slender spades, a short length of pipe that with a twirl extended to a bow staff, collapsing it again and throwing it with the rest. Cash, credit cards, and finally out of a box he found his old duster to give it a shake and slip on. Everything found its place inside, finally slipping on a pair of sunglasses that were among his favourite.

Locking up, he raced after them and ignored the looks of all but his fellow rogue, something in her eyes telling him she understood and approved. Something Shades had said came back to him, that she was of two minds, wondering just how much of Victor was prowling around in there tormenting her. The pieces were falling into place to explain so much, now he just had to find out who it was that had put such a man on her trail, because that was a man he meant to have words with.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Consciousness came easier this time, Jubilee finding her body feeling rested after the cry she had the night before. Feeling lost for a moment, rubbing the sleep and crusty crud from her eyes and blinking to bring them in focus, she found she was in a plain bedroom with large windows overlooking the skyscrapers of the last century. A knock at the door had her dreading just who might be calling, scuffling back until she found a corner and drew her sheets up to hide her balled fists.

Swallowing hard as she tried to find her voice to call out the invitation that was likely expected but something made it hard, raising a finger up to touch her throat. The band of metal was warm, the threat instantly coming back as she remembered just how easy he had twisted it and thinking just what he could do to her now. Feeling helpless again, she let the burning in her hands fade and instead pulled her knees to her chin and waited. The knock came again, this time the door opening to reveal Mystique looking nearly nude walking in with a tray set for two.

"Breakfast time." Mystique said, placing the tray down and pulling up an armchair.

Doing her best not to stare at her figure, she took a piece of toast and nibbled at it keeping her eyes on the jam the whole time. Though as the laugh came she had to look up, Mystique smiling at her as she lounged catlike in the chair.

"Relax kid, I'm not gonna hurt you. Can't say I didn't want to take you over my knee after your stunt on the beach, but I think Vic gave you the beating you earned." Mystique said in an amused tone, waving a hand as if to brush away any fears.

"You were trying to hurt her!" Jubilee argued, glaring at the older woman.

"Short term, I suppose. Long term, if everything went the way it should that girl is gonna be next to impossible to kill just like Victor himself." Mystique said, mulling over the lesser evils.

"What do you mean?" Jubilee warily asked, hardly believing the woman.

"You don't even know who she is or what she can do, do you?" Mystique asked.

"I know she's my friend, and if you hurt her, I'll..." Jubilee started, balling her fists again.

"I just have to call his name." Mystique said slowly with the only threat that need be spoken.

Shaking with unspent anger, forcing it all back down with a grim line across her lips, she managed to unclench her fists again and instead glared right across to the woman who stood to take a seat on the edge of the bed. As she did her form rippled and shifted, where a lady in blue with red hair and yellow eyes had started, a girl just a bit older than Rogue with blonde hair and blue eyes sat dressed in vintage sixties if she was any judge.

"Erik and I have been in this fight since it started, and trust me kid, it hasn't gotten any easier now that it's public. Back then the only people that knew were spooks and they kept it under their hat. Now the whole world knows and they're getting the trains ready, just like Erik had to ride. They're digging out the rope and looking for tall trees. Registration is just how it starts, we're not waiting for the rest." Mystique said softly with steel in her voice.

"How's Rogue going to stop it?" Jubilee asked, thinking it impossible.

"She can do what Erik can't, not without him becoming a martyr when we need a leader. We're going to change the world." Mystique promised.

"You're nuts." Jubilee spat.

"That's what they said at first, when we expected them to believe we could read their minds or take on their guise. That men could lift submarines out of the ocean, or that we could stop World War III from happening. They stopped laughing pretty fast." Mystique said with a bitter smile.

Biting her lip at how sure the woman sounded, she instead went back to breakfast and ignored it all, the two eating in silence with the view of the city as something to look as she chewed. With only crumbs left Mystique gathered up the dishes and stood at the door for a spell shifting back to her natural self.

"Have you ever been to the Empire State Building?" Mystique asked out of the blue.

"Never been to New York before..." Jubilee admitted.

"If you promise to behave yourself, I'll take you up there later. Got some business there. There's some clothes in the dresser for you, get freshened up." Mystique said, throwing a wink as she left.

Having a sniff of herself, the lingering stench of her episode in the car hung with tears and sweat, climbing off the bed to explore her curious cell. Finding a shower and running the tap, there were fresh toiletries in the cabinet along with an unopened toothbrush. Using the routine to try and ignore it all even if just for a half hour, she carefully took of her shirt and shorts and folded them neatly right along with her underwear. It was the only thing of hers she had left to tie her back to the sunny west coast where she belonged, right along with CynJenn, Remy and her newest friend Rogue.

Climbing into the shower and cranking it right scalding, she scrubbed hard determined to wash clean every bit of skin he had touched, wishing she could do the same for the memories that still haunted her.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-


	10. Chapter 10

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made by this work.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

_We'll just let you get settled_, that's what they had said, as if a optically camouflaged hypersonic jet spiriting them across the country were normal. Making a trip in hours what had taken her days with a lot of walking in between, the day fell fast from the morning into the afternoon, both given a room and a chance to rest up after the flight. Throughout it she had stayed near him all the while, neither saying much, not knowing what to say herself other than wishing she could take back that day to when everything finally seemed to be looking up.

There had been fresh clothes on her bed, a shower to enjoy and even a meal of fresh fruit and sandwiches waiting outside the door after a knock. They were giving her space, and right now space was a thing she felt a need more than ever. Miss Grey, or Jean, had told her the truth she hadn't wanted to accept that night when she had dialled a number she shouldn't have known. She had taken him into her, more than just what it was that made him so very dangerous on a wholly physical level, but drawn into her own very mind all that made him the monster that had no qualms about hurting girls like Jubilee or herself.

That the knock came as a surprise just told her how distracted she had become, ever since that day on the beach her hearing inhumanly sharp as to catch conversations at a distance as if she were part of them. Curling up on her bed and snatching up the last of a tuna sandwich, she waited for the knock to come again listening to the shuffling of feet and finally noticing the little things like the department store perfume and the fragrance of her laundry soap.

"It's open." Rogue announced, the handle twisting at her invitation.

It was high school all over again, having moved twice with her Daddy taking work where he could get it while her Momma taught piano, a welcoming committee of kids her age nervously shuffling in to eye up the outsider. Two boys and two girls, one with vivid green hair that looked too natural to ever be a dye job of some rebellious spirit. Munching her sandwich and leaving the crust, she caught the one nervously snapping at his zippo throw her a flirtatious wink.

"Hey, we saw the Jet. Most times we come here the regular way, one of the teach's finding us and talking to our folks. Other times..." Boy America started, his hand taking up the hand of the green haired girl who smiled and looked relieved.

"Other times our family life is right shit, and we take the first bus outta town finding out we're freaks." Zippo added, snapping his lighter open and shut once more.

"John..." Mousy girl hissed, looking back in silent apology.

"What about the time somebody tries to take you, tries to hurt you and ya get away only for 'em ta go hurting the first person ta offer ya a bit o' kidness..." Rogue spat, glaring at them all wishing they'd just take the hint and leave.

"Then they come and help ya, and offer you a chance to be normal for once." Green said, holding tightly to Boy America's hand.

For just a few seconds time seemed off and the world felt like it had gone topsy turvy, things floating through the air to clatter down as Green bit her lip in embarrassment. Never having seen her before in her life, a name came spoken by a voice she didn't know, _Lorna Dane._ It was the name she had felt so much horrible fear for on the night of the attack, a number dialled she would never recall as her fingers danced over the buttons.

"They wanted us ya know, but they took her instead..." Rogue whispered, the guilt painful as she clenched her eyes tightly shut against the tears.

"Us?" Lorna asked, her voice weak as she stared in shock.

"Me and you, he wanted us! Magneto or whoever tha hell he is! But he took her instead after everything he did to me, just ta make sure I came!" Rogue screamed.

The guilt came back, guilt over Jubilee, guilt over ruing everything Remy had, guilt at blaming Lorna for it all wondering maybe if she hadn't made that call, too many doubts and too much pain over it all. Maybe she shouldn't have fought, not have screamed as he attacked her that had drawn the help that had set her on this course.

"You made the call?" Lorna croaked, caught as she nearly fell from suddenly weak legs.

Not trusting herself, she just nodded and curled up in her corner wishing they'd all just leave her alone. Clenching her eyes tightly shut and fighting against the tears again, as she blinked them open smelling lighter fluid and flint she screamed seeing a hand reaching to brush the few that had split from her cheeks.

"Don't you touch her!"

The one voice she had reason to trust was filled full of concern, and a bit of possessiveness that thrilled her. Stepping in and rushing to her side, Remy met John's gaze with a smug smirk and a wink taking a place on the bed.

"K dude, didn't know you and her were a thing, relax." John said taking a step back with raised hands offered in defeat.

"I say that for your benefit homme, my rogue, she be a lady who can take care of herself." Remy said, raising his gloved hand to strip it slowly bare and hold two gentle fingers near.

"Remy, I, I don't..." Rogue whispered, hushed softly as he stared into her eyes.

"Life be not worth living without a little risk, non? Just a touch, to show them I be not _that_ jealous." Remy said in a soothing yet playful tone.

Thinking of all the times he had been so very gentle with her, he had shown care and concern every step of the way treating her with nothing but gentlemanly respect of old. Giving a nod of permission, she waited and felt his bare knuckles lightly stroke her cheek stealing a gasped breath for a memory she would cherish. Yet even as a first freely given tear fell she felt that jolt, that surge of something within her that hungered. Veins bulged on Remy's hand, his flesh turning a sickly colour as he struggled to fight the tide and broke the once tender embrace.

The rest where in shock, John's temper snuffed out instantly seeing the mistake he had made, but she had eyes only for Remy as he slipped a glove back over his hand. Reaching into a coat for a pack of cards that had seen much use on the flight back, he spread it with a showman's wink in offer.

"Pick a card." Remy urged.

Taking one and staring at it, a glow she had seen him use twice overtook it as it flickered and wavered with unspent potential. Plucking it from her with the bare fingers that didn't know the leather of his gloves, something subtle changed in the card just before he flung it into the air to pop and burn leaving only ash drifting down from the ceiling.

"Like I say, this lady, she be one who can take care of herself." Remy said again to the crowd, everyone looking on her in new respect.

"You can't control it, can you?" Mousy asked sadly.

Shaking her head unable to find breath enough for an answer, she still felt too overcome by something in that touch a moment before. It had been filled with worry, a worry she knew herself all too well for her missing friend, and surprisingly a worry for her. Worry and another feeling she knew, feeling something for Remy that if given time might burn hotly and full of passion. It was a sense of longing that in time could be love, remembering a promise sworn over take out Chinese and seeing in his eyes that he hadn't forgotten his debt.

"Hey, my bad, I just..." John started, looking frustrated as he fought to find the words.

"It's okay, ya just, ya just can't touch me." Rogue whispered, hating that the opposite was so true, that she couldn't touch them no matter how innocent the gesture might be.

"Does it...hurt?" Lorna asked.

"Not me." Rogue replied, shaking her head and forcing down memories she couldn't suffer again to think of so soon.

"I'm, we're all sorry, we didn't mean to, we just wanted you to feel welcome. The both of you. Welcome to Xavier's just the same, and...we're sorry about your friend. They'll find her, they found all of us after all." Boy America added, ushering everyone out.

"That's what they promise..." Remy whispered.

Yet sitting there with him, Rogue felt a twist of words to what he said, catching him in a lie and feeling it right down in her gut that she wasn't wrong. Waiting for the door to close and give them the privacy of the company of one another, she listened to the tread of feet heading off down the hall and to all the sorry words spoken for her by people that had just met her.

"You're going after him aren't ya?" Rogue asked knowing there wasn't a soul around to overhear her.

"Oui." Remy said without apology, just smiling at her in a hint of new respect.

"When?"

"Just as soon as we be able to slip free and borrow the Harley I saw in the garage in my wanderings. You ever boost a bike?" Remy asked, shuffling all that was left of the deck.

"No."

"You never forget your first Chere, you stick with me, this N'Awlin's boy teach you all the finer things in life. We get our Petit back, then I think we all have a date with Vegas." Remy whispered, dealing down a straight flush that only missed its queen of hearts.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Sitting alone in his study with his tea untouched, Charles had a stack of folders on his desk, too many things that had fallen through the cracks over the years of striving to do the very best he could for all his children. Pragmatic as he was, he hated that he couldn't be there for them all, sometimes by the time his X-men got there it was just too late. Reaching for the phone and dialing a number he knew by heart now, he waited as it rang once, twice, then thrice before it was answered with silence.

The last time it had been called a killer had answered, visions of what that man had done still ingrained in a young girl's mind who he felt a debt to help and heal. It had been that same girl who had foretold the attempt on another, one he had been able to reach in time though a name spoken with a ill portent.

"Are you there Erik?" Charles finally found the strength to ask.

A laugh he once knew and shared barked, withered by age and time but still rich and strong, fighting against the impulse to search for answers that had never been so easily forthcoming from the private man.

"You are the last man I expected to call, but somehow I am not surprised to hear from you Charles. Still looking for hope dear friend?" Erik asked, a sadness in his voice.

"What have you done Erik? First Lorna, and now this child? Do you have any idea what you've done to her?" Charles asked, still horrified at the ghost haunting her mind.

"I gave her a chance Charles, a chance to give us all a future if only she'll just take my hand. You always looked for the best in them, turning a blind eye to their true nature, we are better than them Charles." Erik said with finality.

"Then show me we are better than them, be the better man!" Charles cried in tormented plea.

"You ask too little of me dear friend, it's so very easy to be better than them, all you have to do is look to history to see this. We are the future Charles, not them." Erik cried with a bitter laugh, preaching the truth he clutched to tightly.

"Just tell me the child is safe, let me at least tell them that." Charles begged.

"Safe and sound Charles, they just have to come for her and hear me out. Don't make this any harder than it has to be." Erik promised.

"Senator Kelly is dead." Charles whispered, listening so very close as he held his breath.

The shaky breath and dial tone said more than words could have conveyed, clenching the phone tightly in his fist and grimacing at how far his friend had travelled on a road paved in misguided intentions. Setting it back atop its rest and rubbing his eyes, Charles found his way back behind the desk to look over the files taken from his archives.

One was more recent than the rest, another from a time his offer had been rejected as it was so many times before. But the last, that was the one he opened again to read over slowly thinking maybe she had been safe after all. Seen from afar, cared for by a boy become a man, he had left well enough alone that time, thinking her in good hands by a chance of fate. Now he was sure the fates were laughing at him, never to know just which threads could be crossed.

"I won't fail you twice Miss Lee, not you, nor Rogue, nor Remy LeBeau. I promise you all to make this right." Charles whispered.

Still remembering a Senator's last words as his grip became slack and his being was undone down to the very genetic level, as ashes became ashes, a man became the primordial soup born from the sea to fall against the infirmary floor with a splash. It was a vow he spoke with blood on his hands, never having had the chance to find out if he and the late Senator could have found common ground on their own.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-


	11. Chapter 11

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made by this work.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

"What kind of school is this?"

Surprised, John looked up to see the last person he expected there, the new girl complete with the 'Don't Touch' warning. Snapping his lighter a few times as he thought, he watched her take a chair and pull it back a safe distance. Sitting out on the back patio, he needed a place to do some thinking earlier. Pushing across a bag of chips, he leaned back in his chair tipping it to just two legs.

"Mutant High, where there's no returns accepted on the gifts." John answered, looking around for her shadow.

"So, everyone here is...?" Rogue asked, waving a hand to encompass the school.

"Freaks like us? Yep."

"I'm sorry about earlier, it's just...I didn't want to hurt ya." Rogue whispered.

"Think that's the first time anyone ever said that to me. Can I ask you something now?"

"I guess..."

"Who did he take?" John asked uncharacteristically quiet.

"My friend."

"She cute?" John asked, sporting a shameless grin falling back into character.

Digging out her wallet, he watched her take a small photo out that looked to be the sort of the boardwalk classic photo booth. In it he saw a happier looking Rogue right beside a girl that looked like trouble. Passing it back, he had his answer, flicking his lighter a few times once again.

"She just taught me to skate, so I could fit in wearin' gloves all the time."

"Guess we'll just have to get her back." John said throwing a wink.

"What do ya mean?" Rogue asked, eyeing him in a new light.

"I've seen him eying the school up, between you and me I think he's up to something, something that wouldn't hurt having a little extra help." John whispered.

"Ya don't even know what yer asking." Rogue snapped.

"You're right, how about we take it from the top, I'm St. John though everyone here just calls me John."

"Rogue."

"Your friend?" John asked, nodding down to the photo she still held.

"Jubilee."

"Cute."

"She hate being called cute, homme."

Spinning in surprise at the new voice, he felt the fool thinking her shadow would be anywhere but nearby. Joining them and spinning a chair around to lean against the back, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and tapped the bottom until one came up. Pressing it to his lips and nodding to the lighter in askance, he waited. Leaning over, John sparked the flint and steel calling a flame, leaving it burning as he stared at it as the first wisps of smoke wafted in the breeze. Finding the pack of smokes offered, he waved them off and snapped his zippo shut.

"You don't smoke?" Remy asked, nodding again to the lighter.

"No." John admitted, a question he was well used to by now.

"You just be a man that like to play with fire then, oui?" Remy asked.

Eyeing him and snapping his zippo open again, the spark had a flame dancing that he drew to cradle like a bird in hand as it burned. Drawing his dark shades low to reveal red on black eyes, Remy looked at him with an intensity in them that cut past all his bluster and leave him feeling bare. Staring back and refusing to flinch, the nod shared spoke more than any words could convey.

"Meet at the garage for eleven, we leave then." Remy said, getting to his feet to lean to Rogue for a whispered exchange.

"What did he say?" John asked after waiting for him to leave.

"He'd save my first time for the date..." Rogue whispered with a blush.

"I thought you said you couldn't touch?" John asked honestly confused, her blush running red with sudden indignation.

"Not that!" Rogue hissed in embarrassment, surprised to find herself laughing at the innuendo.

Grinning just the same, he saw a bit of the girl he saw in the picture and couldn't wait to meet her friend, a fellow troublemaker if he ever saw one. Whatever he had just gotten himself into, it was just the kind of thing to keep his mind off Bobby and Lorna, to keep his mind off trying to find his place in a school for freaks where he still felt like an outcast.

Snapping his lighter shut and throwing her a wink, he had to go get ready while Bobby was still busy in the den before the tattletale could tell on them all.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

"You're not gonna go pokin' around are ya?" Rogue asked, wishing Remy was with her.

"Only into the psyche that doesn't belong, finding a way to cage him within your mind to leave you in control again, and to look for some answers to just what Erik is up to." Charles promised.

"Erik?" Rogue asked, the name stirring a memory that wasn't hers, a meeting of Victor and an old man with steely eyes.

"Yes, known to the world as Magneto. I must tell you I called the number you saw in Mister LeBeau's apartment. It seems your friend is under his care now, safe and sound as he promised me." Charles revealed.

"You said you weren't gonna go poking!" Rogue snapped, surging to her feet.

"That was me actually, you were...under a lot of stress when we found you. Sometimes things...slip out." Jean admitted, offering an apologetic smile.

"I'm not liking mind readers much." Rogue growled, the rumbling rolling from her chest as she looked between the two.

"I'm sorry." Jean said.

"You trust him? She's really safe?" Rogue asked, turning the conversation back to the revelation.

"Safer yes, but still a hostage, his interest in both Lorna and you troubles me but I think just maybe we can find the answers we need to that phone call you made." Charles promised.

"What, what do I need to do?" Rogue asked, hugging herself though not relaxing enough to sit.

"Just relax and open yourself to me." Charles bid, gesturing for her to have a seat.

Reluctantly sitting back down and closing her eyes, not since that night on the beach had she ever really felt alone behind her own eyelids but now she knew without a doubt she wasn't alone. It was the feeling of someone in the darkness of a hall, only to spin and find noone there, the terror that drove her racing to find a light just to feel safe again. She fought against the urge to open her eyes, clenching her fists and teeth and feeling the bite of claws through her gloves and the tang of her own blood in the air. She ignored the gasp from Jean, but the strange comfort that filled her eased her tight grip for her flesh to heal.

"Erik, what madness is this...?" Charles asked with his horror betrayed by his scent.

"You said she's safe!" Rogue growled, snapping her eyes open to confront him.

"It's not her I am worried for, what he plans, we have to stop him." Charles said softly with distant eyes, a hand raised to his brow to massage his temple.

"Well I am, you all throw promises around to help us! Then help us!" Rogue snarled, her breath coming hot as she glared between them.

"We will certainly try, but I must impress upon you the importance that no matter what he does, you do not fall prey to his scheme. What he plans...is madness." Charles said, looking to her with imploring eyes.

"I, we just want our friend back! We didn't ask for this! You, you, you're the one that knows him, you stop him!" Rogue cried, turning to stalk off out the door and slamming it shut in her wake.

Left to stare at the marks in the door where she had gripped it, he took a breath and felt a hand upon his shoulder, Jean at his side looking on him in understanding.

"He's careful, the place I found is one he won't be returning to. I saw...what was done to the Senator, I saw what I couldn't dare look for with everything he had suffered. I fear he plans to go through with this, we must protect them as they're the key to his plan." Charles revealed, thinking of how far his friend had fallen.

"Should we go after her?" Jean asked, looking back to the door.

"No, I fear she won't trust us. Besides, horrible as it is to admit, we have to find Erik before he can ever harm them. Call Scott and Ororo, I'll meet you in the War Room after I've had a chance to talk to some who may be able to reach our guests." Charles said, a weak smile offered.

Taking his leave, he didn't need to be a telepath to find just the people he had to meet, the eldest of his students to ask them for help he was ashamed to have to ask for. Not that he didn't believe in them, he had faith in all his children, but he'd forever curse his crippled flesh having to trust them in his stead.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Hearing the knock at the door, she waited sitting on her bed just staring out the window as she had passed the time. Walking in after peeking first, as if she needed an invitation, Mystique was as her real self with the exception of the clothes that blonde had worn earlier.

"Better?" Mystique asked, waving to herself.

Just nodding, it was, thinking the woman naked and strutting around shamelessly even stranger than her appearance. Walking off to the dresser and looking through the drawers, she picked out a few things and threw them to the bed.

"Get dressed, just put what you're wearing on the dresser, I'll get it washed later." Mystique said, walking off to the window to stare out to the street below.

Taking a breath and stripping again, the clothes fit perfectly right down to the jeans when she preferred shorts, hating the turtleneck but understanding the reason. Standing at the end of the bed for inspection, she coughed to let her know she was decent. Turning on her heel and looking down to her, she smiled and ran a finger through her short black hair.

"Perfect fit right?" Mystique asked, just getting a nod.

"Ready for a trip to the Empire State Building?" Mystique asked.

"Just you and me?" Jubilee asked quietly.

"Erik too." Mystique said, trailing a finger across the hidden band.

Keeping her face fixed, the hope had been crushed, forcing herself to be patient for the chance that had to come. Looking to Mystique, she raised an eyebrow in silent question, mustering up her usually cockiness.

"Oh, it's my turn to change now isn't it?" Mystique asked, twirling around playfully.

The first thing she noticed was how the lady in blue started to slowly shrink and as she did so her blue flesh rippled and faded to a healthy tan. Gasping in shock and feeling stupid for it having seen the trick done twice now, she stood staring at herself and knew just why the clothes fit so perfectly. Yet with a wink Mystique showed she wasn't done, her form maturing before her eyes as she grew taller, her likeness in the span of time standing before her smug. The likeness was all too much for her, looking like another then, crying at the reminder.

Proving she had a heart after all, Mystique hissed a breath in light of just what she had done, looking to their reflections cast in the mirror to see her mistake. Walking up and taking her in a hug, resting her hand atop her head and letting the tears fall, she waited patiently looking a convincing mother to the young girl just as she had intended, all too convincing it seemed.

"For what it's worth kid I'm sorry, once all this is over you can go back to your folks." Mystique promised.

The tears were joined by sobs, clutching the woman and wailing, burying her face and hating how much it still hurt. Surprisingly gentle hands took her and picked her up, easily carrying her to the bed and curling up with her there. Looking up as she felt her hair stroked and hushed words of sympathy offered, she saw that likeness staring back down at her with a kind smile that looked to honest to be an act.

"You got my promise." Mystique tried again.

"You can't promise that, no one can..." Jubilee cried between heaved breaths.

"What do you...oh shit." Mystique swore.

"They're, they're dead." Jubilee said, dispelling any doubt.

The likeness of her mother vanished, but the embrace was renewed right along with some whispered words of apology. Unseen from the door with her face once again buried to muffle the sobs, Erik drew it shut with a quiet click and left them alone to find their composure, having that much time at least to wait before their trip.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

"You're going after him?" Ororo asked, leaning against the doorframe leading to the garage.

Given ten minutes, she was dressed and ready for business in her X-men leathers, eyeing the boy smoking on a stack of tires playing a game of blackjack with St. John. If her student looked caught in trouble, it was a look she was accustomed to and not at all surprised to find him in the company he was.

"Him who?" Remy asked playfully, his eyes telling a different story though.

"Your werewolf that took your Petit."

"You gonna stop me Stormy?" Remy asked, eyeing her and having a look out the window to the weather.

"We're going after Magneto." Ororo revealed.

"You know where he is?" Remy asked, honestly intrigued.

"We have somewhere to start looking, just like you." Ororo conceded.

"Well, you find him, you tell him he can't have my Rogue and you get our friend back. If he harm a hair on her head, I be seeing him real soon too." Remy said, the game called as he shuffled the deck and pocketed it.

"Likewise." Ororo said.

"I call right away, collect of course." Remy said with a grim chuckle.

"Just keep them safe, all of you." Ororo added, looking to John with concern.

"Back at you Stormy." John said, trying it on for size.

"That's Miss Munroe to you Mister Allerdyce." Ororo said, turning to hide her smirk and rejoin her friends and teammates.

Dealing a fresh hand and playing for pocket change, the tremor that ran through the school heralded the departure of the Blackbird, the jet that had spirited him and his Rogue across the country. Checking his watch and finding it hours early still, he gave a shrug and looked to the boy across from him.

"Guess there be no point standing on ceremony non? You got the keys?" Remy asked, John fishing a key ring out of his jeans.

"Yep, got everything I need in the back." John said, dangling them.

"Shame, seem too easy that way. What say we go find my Chere and we get on the road." Remy chuckled, slipping off the tires and heading to the door.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

"The metal detector didn't go off." Jubilee noted in the privacy of the elevator.

"Child's play." Erik replied, standing off to the side dressed in an overcoat and fedora.

Looking up to Mystique who wore that painful guise as she held her hand, she gave a wink as the elevator climbed high to the observation deck. Fighting against the urge to run a finger over the hidden metal band, she played her role as a daughter on her first trip up in the company of a stranger. New York at sunset with a view of the city, a promise of dinner and all the good intentions couldn't have her forget she was just a bit of bait to lure Rogue in for whatever it was they wanted to do. Biting her lip and remembering the promise she had made huddled under the table the night before, she'd watch, wait, and be ready when the moment came.

Taking a deep breath to blink away the tears, she wouldn't cry again, the woman next to her might look like her mother but she knew better. She'd been caught off guard, taken by surprise and reminded just how much she missed her parents. She just wanted to get back to her friends, get back to the West Coast and curl up with Remy in his hammock for a good bawl, work through her anger raising hell with Rogue out on the waterfront paths of the beach. She just wanted to go home.

"And here we are." Erik said, leading the way on from the elevator and onwards to the observation deck.

Life had taught her to live in the moment, take her lumps and just deal with it, enjoying the view as the sun set off on the distant horizon. She didn't care that they kept a close watch on her, she expected it, instead staring out to admire the city that could only be enjoyed from such a dizzying height. The thrill seeker in her had her wondering just what it would look like to look over the edge, to stand there feeling the wind against her face.

"We're in luck, even without them the Statue is visible." Erik said, offering change for the binoculars

Slipping the quarters in, she followed his gaze to Lady Liberty and thought how small she still looked sitting out there on her island. She ignored his hand on her shoulder, ignored Mystique coming close to lean and seemingly admire the view, just focussing on the now and looking off at other buildings.

"They sure can pick their photo ops can't they?" Mystique asked.

Peeking back from her binoculars, she saw that both had their attention on the island alone, turning her view back to it and noticing something going on at a nearby one, the distance still too great to see anything other than a swath of colour she took to be chairs and tents.

"They stand in her shadow to discuss our future, forgetting the words that she holds to her breast. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Freedom indeed, their talk of registration, what do you think they'll make us wear on our coats." Erik said with a voice of granite.

Forgetting the binoculars and staring up to him with his eyes distant, lost to that little island out in the bay, her instincts screamed at her to listen.

"What do you mean?" Jubilee asked in a hushed voice.

His smile was earnest but something about the eyes that looked down to her scared her, biting her lip and holding her ground under their weighty gaze. He reached to brush her hair and take her cheek in hand, his touch soft and gentle as a pain filled his eyes that looked to be lost for just a flicker of his lids.

"Nothing child, but I have a question for you? What movie featured this building so famously?" Erik asked, earning a shrug for his effort from the girl.

"King Kong, a film where they shackled a creature and put it on show, made a monster of it as it climbed to the very heights of this tower only to be killed when all it longed for was its freedom. I hope they don't miss the irony as they make monsters of us."

"What are you gonna do?" Jubilee asked, looking around the observation deck in new urgency.

"I think we're done here, the view is everything I hoped it would be. Come along, we promised you dinner, didn't we?" Erik said in a clipped tone, leading the way.

Looking to everyone just enjoying the view as she had only moments before, she wanted to scream at them to run, give them some kind of warning to the fear she felt in her bones. But with the hand guiding her along by her shoulder and the collar around her throat, she was forced to wait for the moment and hoped it would come soon.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

With John at the wheel, his Rogue taking the shotgun seat, he sat in the back with an eye to the door.

"Lets go homme." Remy said, breaking the silence as they sat with the garage door open.

Not needing to be told twice, John turned over the engine and gunned it out not giving a look back. Rogue he saw had her head out the window breathing deep, her eyes closed against the wind. Night was falling and as he looked back to the school he saw the lights turn on, wondering if it was a promise of invitation if only they turned back. It was something they couldn't do, finding an ally who was another outcast needing to cut loose.

"Don't go too fast, last thing we be needing be the Five O." Remy advised, a snap of his Chere's eyes caught in the side mirror.

"First thing I'm doin' when we git her back is take her ta that dinner, let her order whatever she wants off the menu." Rogue said with a fond smile, tears welling in the corners of her eyes.

He had his own list of things to do, finding a new apartment on the beach unless through some miracle he could get his old one back without questions. Just curl up in his hammock and let her sleep soundly in his arms knowing she was safe and swearing never to let go again no matter what a fuss she made. A party with Cynthia was in order, and eying the boy at the wheel, he felt maybe there should be an introduction made between them.

Reaching to massage his Rogue's shoulders as she sat in front of him, he earned an honest purr from her and wondered just how far he could tread down that path. A kiss would be worth the pain if she longed to take him in that so very intimate way that still scared him just a bit. She took in more than his gift, his life and his lust, she took in memories and there were still those that he never longed to relive himself.

"Careful Chere, the Petit, she eat you out of house and home that way." Remy laughed.

"Worth it." Rogue whispered.

Admitting the same, after running for so long he thought he had a life worth fighting for, making a stand with the ocean at his back a fitting end if it came to that. Of all the women that had come through his door with his little Ange at their back, none had taken him as his Rogue, a fitting match to his thieving ways.

"Oui, it be worth it and more, many things." Remy confessed, running his leather clad fingers through her hair.

Her purr was replaced with a throaty growl, adding it to things he'd have to remember when he could fully explore them. Giving John a wink at the wheel, he felt he'd own the boy a drink once it was all over, just as long as the fire in his eyes matched what he saw there at the patio earlier. Between the three of them, Creed was in for a fight and he was playing for keeps.

"How long to New York?" Remy asked, already knowing but needing to hear it again as his impatience got the better of him.

"Not long, but it's a big city, where we going?" John asked.

"I got some ideas, after that, it'll be down to trustin' our guts and my nose. He's not the kinda guy folks forget, count on it." Rogue answered, closing her eyes and leaning out the window again.

He hated it but had to swallow it as a bitter pill, her calling on that animal trapped inside her to hunt him down. Swearing another promise he'd keep, soon as it was all over he'd have Stormy's friend cage that beast up for good, just leaving the animal behind for her to tame.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

The shower became her retreat, hiding in it with the spray going and drowning out the world. Hearing a door slam and thinking it odd, she shut it off and climbed out listening closely as the television played now. Towelling off and finding Mystique had kept her word, she dressed in her own clothes and slipped on the bought socks and shoes before peeking her head out of her cell.

"Hello?"

The living room was bare, but the sound of the fridge slamming shut told her someone else was there. Stepping on through her door and seeing a sports match on the tube, it was Soccer, correction, Football as her one friend always corrected her. Out of the kitchen came a man she hadn't seen yet, no way she would have forgotten him as he was green in a way that couldn't be faked.

"Well if it ain't the baby I'm sitting, want a bottle?"

Holding out a beer to her, she shook her head remembering how awful the stuff tasted, his laugh cruel as he strode past to fall limply in a cheer and have a long swig. Rushing off to the kitchen to have some space between her and him, he all but ignored her, stinking of paint and looking filthy as if he'd been working all day for a living unlike Magneto or Mystique.

"Who are you?" Jubilee asked, keeping most of herself behind the wall as she looked around.

"Mortimer Toynbee, but if ya go get me something to snack on I'll show ya why they call me Toad."

"Where's, uh, Magneto and Mystique?" Jubilee asked, turning back to head for a rummage through the fridge feeling an idea coming to her.

"Busy, so I get a break to keep an eye on you."

Biting her lip so hard she tasted blood, feeling the first real chance since her nightmare had started, she found her takeout bag down in the fridge right where she left it. Dinner was her choice and she chose Sushi, the joint almost as good as the stuff she got back home.

"You like Sushi?" Jubilee asked.

"That's raw fish ain't it? Sounds a treat luv."

Letting go of the breath she'd been holding in those seconds as she waited for his answer, she pressed her fists against her eyes and forced down the burning in them that might tip her hand. Trying to remember everything Remy had taught her, she did her best to get her poker face on and set her tray down on the kitchen table to grab a piece and peek back.

"Why do they call you Toad?"

"Throw the little morsel you got there and you'll find out."

Tossing it to him and expecting him to just snap it up in some inhuman display of a large mouth, she couldn't help her scream as a tongue lashed out to snatch it like a real life frog and much with a satisfied grin.

"Not bad, got any more?"

Nodding eagerly as if she were impressed with his show, she rushed back to her tray and laced many of the pieces with some soy sauce, nibbling on one herself. Grabbing the few packets she had asked extras of, she loaded one full of the Japanese horseradish thinking it might come in handy, never expecting an opportunity like this to come by. Taking two pieces and popping one herself, she threw the other for Toad to snatch up.

"Oh now that's good, still got some more?" Mort asked, washing it down with his beer.

"Yeah, bit more." Jubilee nodded, grabbing two more and having another herself as she tossed one to him.

"That's cool dude." Jubilee complimented this time, way better than catching skittles open mouthed like her skater buddies did.

She hated how impressed he looked, a compliment having him smile as if he'd never been offered one before. It made her hate just what she had to do, but life was a bitch and sometimes you had to be too, some words of advice CynJenn had given her. Smiling and grabbing the last two pieces, she ate hers and threw the last to him, vanishing with a lash of his prehensile tongue. The moment of truth came, watching him chew once, twice, and then scream.

"I'm so sorry!" Jubilee screamed herself, blasting him full in the face and hoping he wouldn't choke on it.

The door was next, not even caring as she bolted through and raced down the hall just like she had practised in her mind. Ten feet to the fire alarm, pulling it and rushing another twenty for the stairwell. She needed a crowd and a fire alarm would give it to her, it would get firemen and probably even the police out given how upscale the neighbourhood looked if the cars were anything to go by. Putting floors between her, she ran, ran with the fear of 'Uncle Vic' in her, the fear of what she had seen in Magneto's eyes, the fear of seeing Mystique again and wishing she'd never turn back to normal and let her pretend she had a mother again.

The floors vanished and soon people joined her looking right pissed off, dodging and weaving through them openly crying after all she had endured. She ignored the few that asked if she was alright, the ones that just told her it was probably just a dumb kid pulling the alarm, she let them see her just as some lost child and hated that it was exactly what she was. Rushing out the doors and not looking back, she expected at any moment that collar of hers would snag, her leash being pulled. She relieved that first night alone all over again, running away with just the clothes on her back and not looking back once.

Not even knowing just how many blocks she had put behind her, just feeling the burn in her legs and ignoring it, she pushed herself until she was ready to collapse. Finding the one place she felt safe against all reason, a cop's favourite donut shop, she rushed in and raced to the bathroom to puke, dry heaving painfully when she heard the door again.

"Are you alright?"

Clenching the toilet seat and feeling her fists burning so much they glowed bright, she just wanted to be alone for five minutes, really alone and just catch her breath. Peeking under the stall and seeing cop shoes topped in pants, she wanted to believe she was really safe but couldn't believe it after everything she'd been through.

"Miss?"

"Go away, just please go away..." Jubilee whimpered, surging to throw her frame against the door and try and lock it for all the good it did.

"I can't do that, you're Jubilee right?"

"How do you know that!"

Sparks were flying off her, snapping and crackling, her fists burning so hot she had to flush the toilet once and sink them in the cold water to find relief. The door was jostled and shaken, the lady cop not even making any fuss as she just laid down on the floor.

"We got a missing persons report, private school up in Westchester. Jubilation Lee, cute girl by the picture, it didn't do you any justice."

"I can't trust you, I can't. You don't know what I've been through, you don't know..." Jubilee whimpered, just wishing she could after seeing the kind eyes that looked on her with sympathy.

"No, you're right. I'm just a stranger, but in it we were given a number if we found you, strange thing is it's a Los Angeles number. Your principal said there's a woman out there very worried about you, and that you should call he. Cynthia was her name."

Gasping hard and knowing there was no way they could know that, she crawled out from under the door and let herself be taken in arms that held her tight as she cried in relief that it was almost over. Just a phone call to CynJenn and she could get a hold of Remy and Rogue, tell them to stay away and just come get her. Warn them all about Magneto, and just forget all about this nightmare.

"It's okay, you're safe now, we'll call your school and they can come pick you up. It's all over, I won't let anyone hurt you."

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-


	12. Chapter 12

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Parked a block down from the bar with a clear view of the different breed of suvs parked out in front of it, the utility gone replaced instead with luxury and fashion, she didn't even want to know how much just one cost watching another trio pull up with a company of people spilling out. There were bikes a plenty, the names coming as she looked at them, picking out the posers from the men that lived and breathed the lifestyle just by the work done to each. Behind her she could hear John getting ready, a breath all it took to pick out a cocktail of chemicals from lighter fluid, gasoline and even some vodka that had her licking her lips suddenly thirsty.

"You ready Chere?" Remy asked, his hands in his pockets but his shoulders tense.

Giving a nod, she let him know she was ready, the slamming of the tailgate setting her stalking across the street. The place looked different, but all it took was a sniff to tell it was the same dive she felt like she hadn't been to in years longer than she had been alive. That was him, those were his memories, but tonight she'd turn them against him.

"Hold it, just where do you think y..."

Lashing out with a strike that had the bouncer falling to his knees choking, she walked past with Remy and John ignoring the looks they got from everyone else. Part of her was screaming in terror, but another part had her smiling as she stepped in to look around the bar turned club and think just where the pool tables used to, now lined with speakers playing bass thumping beats.

"Remember why we're here Rogue."

Feeling his hand on her shoulder and his voice in her ear, a vision of just why they were there flickered in her mind's eye, recalling Jubilee tearing it up out at the pool party nothing but smiles and laughs. A dark flash of Remy's apartment tempered her resolve, remembering the hour old blood the message had been written in. She knew just why she was there, to get her friend back and make one man regret ever hurting her.

"I know just why we're here." Rogue growled, a low rumble rolling from her chest.

This was the third one they had been to, leaving a message at every one of them, breadcrumbs for him to find. People would be making calls, running their mouths, and trumping up everything they had done. She watched John walk up to the bar and order up a line of shots, growing more cocky the more he got to cut loose. From the corner of her eye she saw him snap open his zippo, the spark and his gift just enough to light the row as he down the first. The rest were offered to the crowd around him, questions asked of just how he did it.

"He's got style." Remy conceded, walking with his hand at her back through the crowd.

"He's a good distraction." Rogue agreed, scanning the crowd and sniffing.

Lust, full of musk and sweat, was heavy out on the dance floor as people grinded against another to the primal beats of the music speaking to the dark heart of humanity. She could see them out there in the crowd, the men eyeing her as something out of place and exotic, prowling around sniffing and looking for their chance. She saw it in their eyes the way they looked at Remy, seeing him as a challenge to be overcome, a flash of daggers and the scent of blood coming to her from those memories that weren't hers telling just how hard that would be.

Let them come, he'd send them yelping off into the night with their tail between their legs to lick their wounds, she wasn't something to be claimed, she was something to be earned and down in her heart she knew Remy was up to that particular challenge. Visions of just what he prize would be assaulted her, a shirt torn and her body hefted and slammed against the wall, her neck bitten hard with the tang of blood. Claws raking flesh...

"Oh shit!" Rogue gasped, clenching her fists to bring her back.

"Chere?" Remy asked, catching her as she stumbled.

"I'm fine, just..." Rogue whispered, forcing her strength into her grip and suffering the pain that cleared her mind.

"This be all over soon enough, then we put him in a cage, deep and dark and never to see the light again, I promise you that." Remy whispered, easing her clenched fists free to slip his fingers between hers.

Blood between palms, an oath sworn, staring into his eyes she believed it and it helped strengthen her will. She didn't know if he meant Victor himself or that thing that lurked in the corners of her mind. Regardless it would all be over tonight, it was her mantra and a ward against the darkness she carried. She'd use it all against him, paying back in kind all the suffering she had endured. She'd be expecting him this time, no babe lost out on a beach to be attacked helpless and alone.

Finding a dark corner of the club to watch the doors, John was standing on the bar now playing for a crowd swigging from a bottle of Grey Goose and spitting flames to their astonishment. If they knew the truth they'd be screaming out into the night, but thinking it a trick they let themselves be entertained, sheep not even knowing they had wolves in their midst. The kiss to the top of her head as she was held in his arms had her soothed, feeling Remy rubbing her sides.

"You were growling." Remy whispered.

"Sorry." Rogue whispered.

"We have time, the evening, it still be young. In this line of work, you have to learn to enjoy yourself while you can." Remy whispered, guiding her off to the bar.

The press of bodies so close as they forced their way in had her feeling caged, but with Remy at her back she trusted him to keep her safe. Drinks were ordered, beer to keep their senses, and a shot that found it's way before her. Bourbon at a whiff, she threw it back and raised it for another, the second doing her good as she started to work on her beer.

"That tasted god awful but at the same time it was fucking amazing." Rogue whispered, laughing at how silly it all sounded.

"Few times we work together, he be a man that like his bourbon." Remy said, having a sip of his beer after with a press of lips she longed to know intimately.

She left it at that, something in his eyes spoke of a pain that still ached, they all had their mistakes and regrets right down to a boy looking for nothing more than a kiss. Forcing down the images that came unwanted, she turned her eye to the crowd again looking for eyes she feared she would see reflected in the mirror behind the bar, eyes of a beast looking for easy prey. A chill bottle pressed to the base of her neck had her gasp, Remy smiling there drawing her back once more.

"Where the fuck is he?" Rogue snarled.

"I think I see a man who know." Remy whispered, turning her gaze to the door.

Picking him out of the crowd, she blinked away the vison of a man dressed for a Disco, weathered like granite with silver hair and armed men behind him and ladies on his arm. Laughter echoed in her ear only to realize it was her own, a smile splitting her lips as she slipped from her stool knowing Remy was slinking through the shadows like a ghost. The Victor she had within her was telling her all about him, right down to how he had worked his way up from a drug smuggler to a more honest trade of arms dealing.

"Was a time you'd be the man to go to for some blow or a little something to keep the party going." Rogue said in a low drawl that hadn't a bit of her southern accent in it.

The women on his arm looked on her as if she were trash at worst, competition at best, their patron looking at her confused with the merest hint something wasn't right. The men at his back tensed, still keeping their hands were they could be see as their employer raised a hand.

"I have the feeling you have me confused for someone else, but if you'd like we could clear it up over a drink."

"Oh, I know just who you are Gregory." Rogue replied, a grin on her lips full of teeth that had him flinch.

"You're mistaken." Gregory said, visibly shaken.

"What, and miss the reunion, mon ami."

A flash of daggers without blood, a glow on them the unspoken threat of just how things could and would go, the bodyguards frozen with their hands reaching into their off the rack sports coats. From the shadows she could see the red of his eyes glowing with violent intent she knew her own emerald depths matched.

"Fuck me, LeBeau. The little gutter rat grew up, and what's this? Did Creed finally keep one?" Gregory spat, glaring down at Rogue.

Snarling in rage at the accusation of any shared blood between her at that monster, she had her hand at his throat and face pressed so close to his she could taste what he had for dinner. Fangs bared and eyes wild, the dribbling on the floor was almost missed in the cacophony of hedonistic release going on in the club.

"You got no fucking idea Gregory, I know just enough about you to know the world won't miss you, so you got one fucking chance..." Rogue growled between clenched teeth.

"Anything!" Gregory cried, his voice choked and full of fear.

"Call up Uncle Vic, tell him his little Kitten wants ta see him." Rogue purred, feeling the long night was almost over.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

"This sucks." Kitty sighed, flopping back on the steps in the warm night to stare up at the stars.

"He wouldn't have asked us to stay without having a good reason." Bobby argued, holding Lorna's hand.

Even still it couldn't help quell his worry and irritation, asked by the Professor himself to take Kitty and ghost after the newcomers and St. John. He was always having to keep his best friend out of trouble, and now he was out there in the thick of it. Feeling her hand on his shoulder, her looked up from his brooding to see her sharing just the same worry and dread.

"I'm sorry, you don't know St. John like I do." Bobby whispered.

"I'm more worried about her, out there all alone. Everything she said, I, I can't blame her." Lorna whispered.

"Well it's their own fault, they just better not drag the school right into it with them." Kitty interrupted, playing connect the dot with the constellations she could see.

"Did he say why?" Lorna asked, looking from Kitty in irritation to Bobby in sympathy.

"He just said he got a call and to expect company." Bobby explained, pulling her up into a hug and staring out into the dark woodlands that surrounded the school.

"I'll laugh if it's John and them, busted for speeding or something." Kitty snickered, throwing her legs up to vault into a sitting position.

"I'd be happy if it was that simple." Bobby admitted, something in his gut telling him otherwise when the Professor reached out to tell him to stand down.

"Car coming." Lorna announced as the glow of headlights brightened a hill until they pierced the darkness cresting it.

They watched in silence as it neared, catching the first real glimpse as it drove past the lamps along the fence line down near the road, a State Trooper. Kitty laughed hard, feeling vindicated, waiting for the car to near. Thinking maybe somehow they had lucked out, Bobby waited and felt that little bit of hope die as the car came to a stop. The trooper stayed in the car, yet climbing out from the back a lady in NYPD blues helped a slip of a girl out after some coaxing.

Feeling his stomach twist in knots and his heart climb into his throat, he found Lorna squeezing his hand tight with a gasp. Kitty scooted up, any of her jest and jibes from before vanished at the sobering sight, the lady cop urging the girl years young then them on up to the steps as the doors open. Throwing a collective look over their shoulders, they found the Professor there with Pete at his back.

The sound of doors closing drew their attention back, the trooper and officer leaving without saying a word, the girl just left standing there with her arms wrapped up about herself shivering.

"Did he just...?" Kitty asked, motioning to the departing officers of the peace with her eyebrows.

"I think he did." Bobby said slowly, astonished to see the Professor use his gift like that.

It was rare to see the Professor act so openly with his telepathy, but that was his only explanation for what he'd just seen. Starting to rise to his feet, he saw the girl jump back a few steps and throw her hands out before her, sparks snapping off them to pop and crack.

"My bad." Bobby cried, holding his hands in front of him daring to placate her as he took his seat with Kitty and Lorna.

"CynJenn said you phoned her, said Remy and Rogue were here, I want to see them." Jubilee snapped.

"They left..." Kitty started, gulping hard as she saw the girl across from her openly start to cry.

"To find you! You're the one that helped her? She said you were the first to offer her any bit of kindness..." Lorna cut in.

"They came all the way for me?" Jubilee whimpered, the words she had told her self again and again suddenly made real.

"Yep, never caught where you were all from." Bobby said, getting to his feet again.

"So Cal, LA." Jubilee mumbled, the sparks alighting off her hands dying.

"Seriously? Holy crap, far from home to the nth." Kitty whispered.

"I think you all have this well enough in hand, I'll leave you all to getting her settled in. I'm going to see if I can't track down her wayward friends to let them know the good news." Charles said kindly.

Taking his leave with one last look on them with a mix of pain and pride having burdened his students with a different mission but knowing they would handle it. Patting Pete in passing, he started back to the school, needing a moment with Cerebro.

Left alone and just wondering what the poor girl had been through, Bobby crouched in front of her with the rest giving them just enough space. Noticing the bags under her eyes and bruises hidden by makeup, her split lip that had him touching his own in sympathy, he felt his heart ache for everything she must have been through. But it was Lorna reaching out to touch the necklace about her throat that had his heart skip a beat as she jerked back from the touch.

"He did this to you." Lorna said with no question implied.

Nodding her head with a fresh wave of tears, Jubilee tugged at it futilely with no purchase or give offered. Joining the rest in an asking look to Lorna, he saw how shaken she looked but still found the strength to smile.

"I don't know why, but he wants me. Because I can do what he can, or that's what the Professor told me after they saved me all because your friend phoned to warn them. I can...take that off, I think." Lorna said softly, staring at the strip of metal that had her feeling her blood running cold out of disgust.

Looking so hopeful and sad at the same time, Jubilee forced her hands to her lap and just sat still giving the tiniest nod of ascent. Remembering back when she found out about her power, or her gift as the Professor had called it, Lorna thought back to idly toying with a spoon one breakfast to find it putty in her hand. Levitation and attraction came later, practised in secret, but bending spoons had been her trick she had showed openly at school letting her classmates wonder how she did it.

Gently taking the band of metal in her fingers, she worked at it just like she would a spoon, rubbing it and feeling the metal yield and twist at her touch. Snapping it first, she eased it until it was a crescent that could easily be lifted free and tossed away like the vile thing it was. On the first clattering echo down the drive she found herself tackled and thrown to the ground, the girl she had just freed hugging her and crying openly.

"It's okay, you're free, you're safe. They, we won't let anyone hurt you." Lorna whispered, surprised at the turn about of events.

"Lets go inside, get your scrawny butt into a blanket and then we can get you something to eat. Sound good?" Kitty announced.

Too shaken to answer, she didn't fight as Pete easily picked her up and lead her off to the school. Hanging back to compose herself, Lorna looked to Bobby and saw something in his eyes that had her leaning in close for a kiss, a new resolve in his eyes.

"You're going to be my Hero, aren't you?" Lorna asked.

"Soon as this is all over with, I'm going to become an X-man." Bobby swore, taking her hand lightly in his own to join the rest.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

"The girl's escaped." Mystique announced, the preparations nearly complete with the device.

Standing at the window and looking out to the skyline filled with all the lights of Manhattan, Erik had a sip of his drink and found the taste of the Scotch sullied by the announcement. The call from Charles had been foreboding enough, let alone signs that his X-men were out looking to stop him. Now the lure for the final piece to his victory had escaped.

"How?" Erik asked, having another sip.

"Toad's appetite apparently got the better of him, that and three packs of wasabi and a face full of sparklers that I know exactly how bad they hurt." Mystique hissed.

Smirking despite the outcome, he had to give the child credit for her resourcefulness. Finishing his drink and swirling the ice about the glass, he thought of a way to salvage the whole mess. Already the UN ambassadors were filing in on Ellis Island, the television playing silently in the corner broadcast that much.

"Call Victor, have him earn his pay and track her down, both her and our wayward Rogue I've yet to receive. I believe I am going to have to pay an old friend a visit as my hand has been forced. Have Toad prep the chopper, I'll be there shortly." Erik explained.

Leaving her to make the necessary calls, one way or another he would usher in a new age for his people with the world as his audience. Wars were fought by men and women inspired by words and political rhetoric, but to change the world you had to change the people. Tonight the Isle of Manhattan would be changed forever, the million and more souls finding out just what it meant to be a Mutant, a voice strong enough to be heard by the whole of the world. If the world didn't listen, he had his speeches prepared and his soul ready to bear his sins.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

He'd been getting calls enough all night, just the kind of calls he wanted to hear, that Remy was in town right along with his Kitten. Erik might have paid for her for a night, but hearing that snarl through the phone it woke something up in him he hadn't felt for a good long time. It'd been years since a woman had come off as more than some frail thing to be played with, come off as something he could let himself loose with. The last one he met had wanted to be hurt and he'd obliged her, listening to all her confessions about everything she had done to deserve it, choosing 'Him' instead of her brother.

His little Kitten would take some nurturing before then, following her trail and stopping for drinks, catching her scent right along with a new little playmate that smelt of lighter fluid and gasoline, a little fire bug. That Remy was all over her was just perfect, every little girl needed their first. If there was one thing he had it was time, putting another bill on his tab to head to the next. By the time Gregory called him he was ready to meet them, everything he needed to know told by just how wild she was becoming with every little stop along the way.

Pulling up out front of a club that was strangely deserted, he stopped to stare down at his phone and grinned. It was Mystique, speak of the devil herself, letting it go to his voice mail figuring he'd call her back after his fun. He'd follow through with the arrangement, but first he had to get down to a little pleasure before business. Life was just too boring if he didn't cultivate the right kind of enemies, put the hate in their heart that he'd harvest someday full of blood and rage and anger.

"Last call for alcohol, ya don't gotta go home but ya can't stay here." Victor sang walking into the club, a glance to take in the players.

The dance floor was empty though the music played on quietly in the background, the tables still standing with bottles and glasses of expensive liquor of the partygoers. Up at the bar some punk sat pouring a line of shots with some Grey Goose, lighting the row with his zippo to take the first and blow it out. Alcohol abuse in his opinion, but to each their own, turning his eyes on the booth where just the few people he wanted to see were.

Kitten sat on Remy's lap, her arms thrown around him and drinking a bottle of champagne straight. LeBeau had his staff out in one hand, idly tossing a blade in the other, looking as cocksure as ever. Beneath it all was a simmering rage he had sparked writing a message in blood back across the country, just the little bit of luck he had in the whole mess of what would have otherwise been a run of the mill job.

"Ya here ta tell me yer mad I broke yer little toy LeBeau, what were ya waitin' fer, her ta grow up a bit ta be your little beach bunny?" Victor asked with a low laugh, the blade caught between fingers and taking on that purple glow of potential violence.

"Where is he?" Remy asked.

Kitten was sliding off his lap and prowling around the bar, picking up a drink here to pound back and move onto the next table all the while staring at him. Gloves were torn free and claws unsheathed without a wince of pain in her eyes, it was enough to drive him mad staring at her thinking of just everything he wanted to do with those lips that set a grim line all the while longing to see them ripple back in a snarl. He wanted to hear it first hand, to see the rage in her eyes and throw himself at it.

"The babysitter I left yer little beach bunny with?" Victor laughed mockingly, his eyes locked to Rogue's to see everything he needed, the twist of lips that showed fangs as her snarl danced in his ears and sent shivers down his spine.

Joining him on the dance floor and looking to cut on in with his Kitten, one dagger became five with all the flair of the street hustler he had been back in the day cheating at Five Card Monty. Catching the little fire bug in the corner of his eye picking up a shot looking to blow out the flaming shot, that dangerous element of the unknown tipped its hand as a burst of hellfire straight out of Vietnam engulfed him, snarling in rage and twisting to attack.

Kinetically charged knives dug into his side, exploding seconds later and knocking the wind straight out of his ruptured lung. But the outright roar of his Kitten proving herself a real Wildcat gave him seconds to prepare for the attack that came with claws dragging down his back and digging into flesh to grip his spine just as he would when playtime was over. Having tasted her gift first hand, he didn't have time play nice feeling his strength flattering, twisting to claw out her throat in a spray of blood across the dance floor.

"Oh," Victor said, coughing blood as he backed away grinning despite everything they expected, "This is just fucking perfect."

Remy was by his little loves side, the fear of god in him until that torn flesh mended as she hacked and wheezed. Meeting the gaze of the little fire bug, the kid proved he wasn't that much push over throwing a flaming shot at a table to set it ablaze, the rest soon joining it as the flames danced to his whim. Breathing in the scent of the burning bar and catching his amongst it all, he'd remember his face for another day as the inferno struck him.

"S'fraid I'm still on the clock kiddies, but if'in yer lookin' fer your little friend and ol' Erik himself," Victor began, suffering the burning of his flesh to prove a point to the little Pyro, "He's lookin' fer you too."

Glad to see his little Wildcat had just the same undiluted healing he did, she was lunging at him before he could even turn to the door, catching her by the throat and holding her there as she clawed at him and dug for his eyes. Thinking just where to find Erik and their little Firecracker, he added everything about the night in the apartment and forced it right down her as he hurled her at Pryo. LeBeau wasn't far behind in his attack, his bo staff lashing out and easily dodged with more than a century of fighting for his life under his belt, an opening coming to throw the gutter rat right where he belonged out in the street with the door shattered in his passing.

Finding everything he wanted out of the night, just shy of a frail for his kind of intimacy, he left to the distant sound of fire engines sirens knowing just where they were headed. Erik could have his money back for all he cared, he'd just laid seed to enough hate he longed to reap once it had a chance to grow. Picking up the phone and giving it a look to more messages piling up from Mystique, he threw it out the window and thought ahead to just where he could go to kill some time until the harvest.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

The only warning they had was the sudden power failure and the sound of a chopper landing out on the lawn. Striding towards the school, gone was Erik and his Fedora, in his place was Magneto and a helmet worn in battle. The irony wasn't lost on him, remembering a time years before when both he and Charles had been off hunting down a man that sought to bring about a new world born in the ashes of the old. With only children left behind, the fight was over quickly.

Two joined him in the chopper, buckling them up and binding them, running his finger over the bare neck of the one. Just on the edge of his perception he thought he could hear the cries of his old friend reaching out to him, the temptation to take off his helm and beg forgiveness overcome with the slamming of a door as Mortimer climbed in to take the helm.

As the helicopter climbed into the night sky he looked in those windows to the children that had no idea of everything he sacrificed for them, hoping one day in his new world they might if not forgive him, at the very least understand him.

"Hurry along now Toad."

Seeing the hands of his pilot hesitate, his head slowly twist to face him with a look of anguish, he gave the man a moment to say his piece.

"It doesn't have to be this way Erik."

"How long are you going to hold that line Charles? Until we're left alone on a beach again, too tired and weak to stop their missiles again?"

A rustling at the back had him know the slumbering girl was awakening, hoping she'd sleep deep and wake into a world she wouldn't have to hide in. Her shock was expected, struggling against her bindings until she noticed Toad look back on her with the eyes of another.

"King Kong! He liked the view!"

Flexing his might and shielding the feeble mind of his pilot, where Charles had looked through the eyes Mortimer blinked off the last vestiges of his thrall. Hearing the screaming coming from the back, he made a horking noise and spat, silencing it with a mucus hardening over her mouth.

"Remind me I owe Raven an apology, goodness, this child is a handful now isn't she?" Erik said, the helicopter tearing off to leave Westchester behind.

"Don't hafta tell me." Mortimer grumbled, sporting bandages and balms on his face and still feeling his tongue burning.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-


	13. Chapter 13

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made by this work.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Fighting him all the way as he dragged her off to their borrowed black suv, Remy finally overpowered her enough to force her into the back before jumping in the shotgun seat and leaving John to drive. Her clothes was ruined, the blood that gushed from what to anyone else would have been a mortal wound drenched down her shirt. It was blood he had on him, those few heartbeats watching and fighting the urge to staunch the wound the worst in his life. Even after all these years Creed proved himself the big dog, slamming his fist against the dash and digging for a smoke.

"Where to now?" John asked after they were safely away from the burning club.

"Find a hotel, get cleaned up." Remy said, his voice cold and hard.

"What about your friend?" John asked.

Drawing on his cigarette as it blazed, the ember eating away at its length leaving ash behind, he flicked it out the window and hissed a smoky breath. The whole reason of going after Creed first was to find out where this Magneto was so they could surprise him, rescue Jubilee and his Rogue all at once and just run. Staring out into the night, their Petit was lost in the City that never slept, a city of millions, the thought of finding her feeling impossible.

"I, I know where she is..." Rogue struggled, forcing down a growl as she fought for calm.

"How?" John asked, Remy having the words on his lips.

"He, he told me when he took me by the throat. What you're thinking, I get it when I touch you for just a second." Rogue said slowly, clearly trying to figure out the words for something that must be so very different.

"Then we get cleaned up, after we go find her." Remy replied, fishing for another cigarette.

Tapping the bottom of the pack until one popped up, he looked to his side to see her trembling hand reaching out. Holding the pack to her, she took one and pressed it to her lips he still longed to kiss. Tapping another out and finding a zippo held out for him, he drew a breath until the ember burned and passed it back, gladly taking hers and lighting it if just to taste her lips. Looking at her reflection in the windshield, he saw the gesture wasn't lost on her, a faint smile flickering as she hauled a breath of smoke that had her coughing but quelling that necessary evil for the time being.

"We didn't exactly bring any change of clothes." John broached, heading down a side street at the sight of distant lights and sirens.

Digging into his coat to pull out a wad of cash from his war chest, Remy peeled off some bills and handed them off to John, stuffing it back in his duster. He could see him eying Rogue only in a way to judge her size before snapping his gaze back to the road, the only stolen glances to the blood and torn clothes that showed unmarred creamy pale skin beneath.

"How did she survive that?" John asked, pulling up to a light to wait out the red.

"Same way he did, he heal, he forced that on her right with everything else that make him a bad man." Remy whispered, having learned that much so far.

"She just touches you and...?" John asked, looking back to see her curl up on the back seat.

"Not the way our little Jubilee tell, she say Rogue killed him, that what I be told. He doesn't die easy though, comprende?" Remy explained, saving her from the burden.

"That's tough." John remarked, jerking the truck forward and heading off to the outskirts of the city.

Coming on a motel that sold by the hour, he had John pay through the night, taking the key to lead Rogue on in and off to the bathroom. With a promise of clothes and food on his return, John took his leave. Throwing his coat to the bed not caring what atrocities had been committed on it, he stripped down to his jeans and eyed his battered and bruised flesh in the mirror. Angry purple now, tomorrow it would be black and moving would be more than the ache it was now.

The shattering of glass had him spinning and throwing open the bathroom door, Rogue bent over the sink with fresh blood staining the running water in willowy wisps of crimson. Her clothes was thrown in a pile in the shower, dressed just as him in jeans and nothing else, her flawless skin having his suck a hard breath. She didn't pay him any attention, her fists grappling the sink as the last of the blood washed down the drain, shards of glass forced out to fall against the porcelain with a tinkling clatter.

Coming back with his pack of smokes and tapping it finding it nearly empty, he wished he had paid attention to it when John had obliged them to play errand boy. Sitting down on the toilet and staring at the filthy tiled floor, he lit one up and took a soothing drag before offering it to her. He saw her now in her fullest, just the hem of her neglige having his imagination running wild with what laid beneath those tight jeans picked out back in Beverly Hills.

She took the cigarette and savoured it slowly, rolling it between her lips in a show and passing it back, turning to slip into the shower and slide her back down against the tiles. Exploring her hand and finding it healed without a scar to show for it, she looked back up to the shattered mirror and the blood still there as proof of what she'd just done.

"I saw him in it." Rogue whispered.

His stomach clenched, his breath hard to find as he held a lung full of smoke and fought not to hack and wheeze, letting it out slow and steady instead thinking on everything she had just revealed. Offering the cigarette again, she shook her head this time and he gave her a smile, throwing the half smoked butt in the sink to die with a hiss and crackle down the drain.

"You say you know what we be thinking, by just a touch? Oui?" Remy asked, admiring her beauty without a lecherous thought running through his head.

A nod with some whispered words too quiet to hear were her answer as she sat there looking the vulnerable girl he first met, dragged in with his Petit scared out of her mind. She had needed a shower then too, right along with a nights to rest and a good meal. He could only offer her two this time, not enough hours to find the friend that had bound them by that fateful meeting out on a beach. Getting to his feet and crouching in front of her, he caught her gaze in his crimson eyes that burned intensely for her.

"I want you to know what I be thinking right now Rogue." Remy whispered, watching her stare into his eyes to make her choice.

Reaching out with a hand, he brushed it aside without ever the two meeting, still staring deep into her eyes. Hovering his fingers under her chin, her eyes widened at just the touch he meant, her lips parting to protest but silenced as he pressed a kiss to them that was as frenzied and furious as his hammering heart. He felt the jolt that his little Jubilee had talked about that first night, braced himself for it and showed no discomfort instead putting into his thoughts what he had no words to express.

Her own breath was coming ragged as they broke apart, her fingers trailing over her lips licking them to savour the taste and burning the moment into her memory. A flicker of red as her eyes washed black told him she had his gift, his Rogue looking down to her hands in distrust.

"I think you have enough of your own Remy in you that you don't have to worry Chere, try it." Remy whispered, the kiss leaving him in dire need of a smoke now more than ever.

Taking it to his lips, he waited as she pressed the tip of a finger to it, the glow spreading along its length until it met his own fingers. Leaving it to her, she wrinkled her brow in the most demure bit of frustration, pulling it back until just the tip glowed and snapped in a small explosion of kinetic potential released. Drawing in that first drag, he exhaled slowly, his back screaming at him for crouching so long.

"Showers all yours when I'm done." Rogue said, joining him in getting to her feet and turning a shy back to him.

About to take his leave and offer her some privacy, he was frozen as she looked over her shoulder, her eyes ensnaring him. The snap of a button and the sound of a zipper had his breath hitch and the cigarette dangling from his lip, watching her thumbs run around the hem to the swell of her hips. They fell with a slinking shimmy and a twist, falling to the floor with the rest of the ruined garments. Staring at her with an appreciation he never had for those mythological beauties captured in stone and canvas, she revealed herself to him with a lazy turn to draw the shower door closed. Taking a stumbling step back as he watched her turn on the spray, he was glad no request for that privacy came now, unable to move from his place frozen in awestruck admiration.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

They were announced with the building shaking and the cry of car alarms wailing into the night, a squeal of tires and headlights dying in front of their room an encore as John came bursting in with a bucket of fried chicken and bags of clothes. Ravenous at the aroma, Rogue fell on the bucket and wolfed it down with abandon, a towel the one guarantee of her modesty. Offered a piece, Remy nibbled at it having no real appetite but knowing he'd need the food to fuel the fight ahead.

"I got good news and bad news, and then just some shitty news we gotta work with." John started, flicking his lighter with nervous energy.

"Just spit it out homme, I take it that be Stormy and the rest?" Remy asked, a nod off to the door to an abandoned lot that was the only place he figured the stealth jet fit.

"Fuck, just don't kill the messenger. Your friend got loose, the Prof had a missing person out on her and she was taken to the school. Then fucking Mags came for Lorna, shut down the school and took the both of them..." John started, looking to them with hands raised defensively fearing how the news would be taken.

A growl was Rogue's answer, the chicken vanishing even faster in angry bites with threats and promises of violence spat. Staring back with cold, hard eyes meant for another, Remy gave a thankful nod to John for the news.

"Shitty news?" Remy asked.

"We think we know where they are, Jean filled me in after scaring the crap outta me down at the Colonel. The Prof reached out and touched of one of them, your friend had time to yell something before he got forced out. King Kong, he liked the view, they think he's at the Empire State Building." John added, looking between them with one last flick of his lighter before gripping it in a tight fist.

"The school?" Remy asked, catching the worry in his Rogue's eyes.

"Black out, the Prof was stuck down in his lair or whatever the fuck it is. Bobby, he's...fucking Mags had Pete clobber him like some fucking puppet before he had a chance to shift, that's the word I was given. He's pretty beat up." John struggled, his eyes burning hot with a need for retribution.

Nodding at the news, Remy climbed to his feet and started digging through the bags, handing off clothes to Rogue who forced down one last piece of chicken mechanically. Turning his back to them, John stood rigid and ready for the fight to come.

"I take it that Stormy be needing help?" Remy asked, hastily changing.

"They're not gonna turn it down, that's the word I got. Hope you're not afraid of heights, Doc Grey is gonna be dropping us in." John managed with a humourless chuckle.

"Right on the building, merde, this be something to tell over drinks someday." Remy laughed with a hard edge to it.

"We're gonna make him pay for hurting everyone we care about." Rogue coldly spat, pulling a T over herself and finding her shoes.

"Yeah, about that, word from the X folks is we're there to take them down hard and hand them over to some crazy government spooks the Prof knows. After the bar, I just mean..." John started, going silent as a gloved hand too him by the shoulder.

"Sugah, he's gonna get what he's got comin' ta him, that just depends on how Jubilee and Lorna are when we get there." Rogue promised.

"Oui, that and interest." Remy added, leading his Rogue off.

"Like I said, don't shoot the messenger, I'm the only one that can mess with Drake and I don't share." John said, slamming the door shut before joining them.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

"Do you want to know why I'm doing this?" Erik asked from the window.

Behind him Toad toiled over the contraption, checking it's construction again and running through a diagnostic check list. Bound to chairs by twisted metal piping, Jubilee sat with her mouth still bound and gagged by hardened mucus, Lorna the only one to answer as she still struggled against the will of her captor trying to twist the metal free.

"Because you're fucking crazy?" Lorna spat, growling as she tried to flex free the pipe about her one arm.

"You should really save your strength my dear, you'll need it if our company doesn't come. Sadly time is growing short, I need them to see us first hand, to hear our voice and know we won't go peacefully." Erik advised, a twist of his hand tightening the pipes.

Glaring hard at him, she turned her attention away seeing no point in giving him the attention he clearly sought. Looking to the girl years younger than her at her side, she saw the fear back in the eyes, understanding it herself first hand.

"She looks thirsty." Lorna said, Jubilee nodding her head with a whimper.

Turning to look to his other captive, Toad looking up from his work with a questioning look, Erik waved him off and back to work to walk over and none too gently strip the mucus gag free. Gasping for breath, Jubilee found enough saliva to spit at him despite her thirst, Erik left to wipe it off his face with a handkerchief even as he held a bottle of water up for her to drink deeply from.

"I'll never understand you..." Jubilee ground out between clenched teeth, breathing hard to catch her breath.

"Maybe that's for the best child, Toad?" Erik replied, calling out to the harried man at the contraption.

Knowing what was coming and pressing her lips tightly shut, the mucus hit and hardened in seconds, Mortimer going back to his check list with his place kept by his thumb. Staring up at Erik himself, Lorna took a calming breath and did just as instructed, saving her strength for whatever was to come.

Walking back to the window and looking out at the city, he found his thoughts bothered by just how awry his plans had gone. He'd have blood on his hands by the end of the night, nothing new, but never before had he spilled the blood of one so young and innocent.

Looking at her from the window, he wondered just which of those few women he had sought comfort with over the years, which had brought her into this world only to cast her off to an orphanage, found by his dearest friend like any other child he'd found before. Wishing again she'd never been found, maybe then he could have found the strength to take the chair himself and trust his oldest friend to take care of his sacrifice. That trust had weathered and cracked, a poor base for the future he planned.

Feeling a tremor run through the suite, he looked to his drink sitting atop a desk to see the rings running to the centre, closing his eyes and reaching out. Looking back to Jubilee he offered her a smile, expecting this ever since her frantic words of warning had been cried.

"Times up, tell me you're ready?"

"Just a handful more, otherwise it'll rip itself apart. Good, good, good, acceptable, and...done!" Mortimer replied, focused on the inner workings of the device he had been toiling over following the designs crafted by Erik himself.

"Good, I'll handle moving this into place, you bring the girls along and tell Mystique to be ready." Erik said, waving his hand as the entire device tore through the window in a spray of glass joined by the screaming wind.

"History is written by the victor Toad, don't falter!" Erik said as he stepped out into the night.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

"Can't you get closer?!" John yelled over the rushing of air and roar of the engines, standing at the edge of the bomb bay doors.

"You wanted to help!" Scott yelled, banking the Blackbird for the final approach.

Looking to the two who in the span of a day had accepted him more than he had ever been in his whole life, he swallowed hard and gave a nod to his teacher standing there. Jean tried to look reassuring, but staring down at the buildings below and just how far they had to fall, she thought a bit of honesty might be more welcome. Glancing to the two across from her and then to her own love, she reached out to brush his mind and draw some of the assurance he offered.

"John?" Jean asked, turning her attention back.

"Yes Miss Grey?" John asked, his voice betraying him as he slipped back as if he were still in class.

"Release your harness, we jump in three." Jean instructed.

Closing his eyes against the sight of the city below and finding the carabinder for his harness, he did the unthinkable and released his only tether to the jet. Feeling a hand on his back, he opened his eyes to see Remy offering him a pat, the four of them having to trust another. Dressed in her X-men black leathers, Jean gave them all a smile and drew a breath for the moment to come.

"One, two, three..."

Leaping out of the jet that looked to tear away from them only to realize it was the other way around, the wind rushed past as in their free fall to the landmark below. Out there in the night was their final ally, living up to her namesake as a Windrider, scouting ahead of them. The building was closer now, the spire once meant for the marvelous future of Zeppelins looking a lance to the heavens from their vantage. Hardly noticeable at first, just as he was fighting to hold in his scream that welled in his chest, John felt the pressure against him that had nothing to do with the wind.

"Get ready!" Jean yelled, their descent slowed but still rapid.

Hugging the edge of the building, windows raced past all too close, the wind ruffling their hair even still with that pressure holding tight to their chests and gripping them in a welcome hold. Even now Remy and Rogue were sharing looks as John himself fought to believe his teacher would never let them honestly jump out of a jet to their deaths. Just as the floor of the observation level neared the moment he prayed for happened, their fall coming to an abrupt halt, tumbling to the safety of a tested and true floor.

"I've never tried that with so many before." Jean gasped, running her hands over her face taking an excited breath.

"You, you tell us that now!?" John cried, a warning look from Remy and Rogue alike silencing him.

Seeing her smile in a way he had never at the school before, he found out his teachers were human after all, not just the people who held the line of law and order dishing out detentions and assignments. Yet as he smiled at her in kind, he saw her snap her attention above them with that smile vanishing. Faster than he could even see a body fell in their midst, lashing out with legs that sent him skittering down the empty deck struggling to breath.

"Magneto said we had company, guess that makes me the welcoming committee!" Mortimer called out, leaping into a backflip to land at a safe distance away.

"No, he's already started! Go, I'll handle him!" Jean cried frantically.

Tilting his head in surprise, Toad smacked his head and shook off the familiar feeling of telepathy at work. Eying the retreating youths, looking to breath deep instead he lashed out with a barrage of mucus, catching two for his effort.

"Chere, you go!" Remy called out as he caught her twisting back to see both him and John held fast with a foot glued to the ground.

Turning his attention to Jean, he shifted his weight around grinning at her as he worked his throat for another blast of mucus. Thinking he had easy prey, he had to tilt his head in shock at seeing the gobs of cement strong spit freeze midair and harden, hurled back at him in a turn about attack.

"Go!" Jean screamed, waving a hand and shattering the binding mucus by her will alone.

Looking to Toad, Remy and his teacher alike, John held his ground and dug out his lighter and a flask. Throwing the one guy who ever treated him right a wink, John was glad that trust was returned in kind as Remy raced off after his rogue.

"Sorry teach, Mister Summers would give me detention for life if I let anything happen to you." John said in answer to her angry look.

"Shoulda run when you could have kiddo!" Toad taunted, looking to yell instead for a lashing inhuman tongue whipping out of his throat.

Holding his ground and sipping his flask, snapping his zippo open with practised ease earned from a night of living it up, he spit vodka and called on his gift, an inferno engulfing the path of the attack. Forcing all the anger and resentment he had felt always being the outsider, the bad boy, the one none of the girls gave a second glance, the flame ate hungrily feasting on the spray with a roar of combustion that nearly drowned out the awful scream. As night reclaimed the moments dazzling day, John looked around expecting to find a beaten man, only for a warning cry and exertion of her prowess saving him.

Tumbling to the ground beside his teacher, John looked to where he had been moments before and felt fear again seeing tiles and cement shatter in a show of strength. Landing hard and lashing out with his tongue again, Toad pressed his attack.

"I hope they're doing better than us!" John cried as he dove clear.

"Don't worry about them, focus!" Jean yelled, finding an opening as Toad leapt at her to catch him midair.

"Worry about yourself luv!" Toad laughed, horking up another volley of mucus to break her concentration, forced to let him go to block the binding attacks.

Leaping back with acrobatic grace, the wet splashing noise of his last step had him look down to the puddle at his feet with a bit of rubbish in the form of a water bottle sitting there. Sniffing and tilting his head as he saw the trap for what it was, flexing his legs to leap free he found it was too late, a shark toothed zippo thrown at it to light the flame that rose as a column into the night.

"How's that for focus!" John yelled back, clenching a fist and slashing at the air, the flames dying by his will.

"What have you done John?" Jean whispered, reaching out to the burned and beaten man to force him into a dreamless rest.

"I ended what he started, what do you think that would have done to me!" John snarled, pointing to the shattered section of the deck.

Biting back a harsh retort, she turned her attention to the first aid their fallen foe would need, reaching out to her love to call for a sortie. Taking her face in her hands looking to her onetime student, she couldn't help but catch the thoughts radiating off him just as hot as the flames he wielded.

"I'm going to need your help, we have to stabilize him as soon as we're on the Blackbird, it'll give you a chance to see fist hand just what you're capable of." Jean said instead, not needing telepathy to know just the shock that jolted through him.

"We'd be no better than them otherwise, do you want to be seen just the same as men do things like this to us? Hurt our friends, change them, terrorize cute girls?" Jean asked, reading his thoughts now and pulling out a vision of a hopeful picture he held close to his heart even if it wasn't his.

"Fuck me, just tell me we're using rubbing alcohol and leeches." John snarled, stalking up to lend a hand at last.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Racing ahead and knowing Remy was at her back by his scent alone, she ran around the observation deck hearing a scream and hating herself for being thankful it wasn't Jubilee. Finding easy strength as the thrill of the hunt coursed through her veins, Rogue fell to all fours digging for purchase with claws and whipping around the last corner to come skidding to a halt at the sight she saw.

Everything from those memories forced on her struck her low, tumbling and rolling to land hard at the very wall of the observation level fo the Empire State building. Spitting blood and snarling, she looked up to see the green haired girl whose name she had know right along with a phone number and a sense of dread, Lorna Dane.

Turning on her in genuine surprise as the rings of metal started to swing around in ever gaining speed, the man to blame for it all had the audacity to look sad with his features light by the growing glow growing from Lorna. In his arms he held Jubilee close, almost tender, bound tight in wire and pipe and looking terrified.

"Let her go!" Rogue snarled, climbing to her feet and rushing at him.

Sense honed by years alive she couldn't even imagine to bear were lent to her, that dark part of her mind answering to the racing of her heart and her lust for blood and revenge. Leaping to jump at a wall dodging the first of the metal railings lashing out like snakes, she twisted hard on her ankle and didn't care as it broke knowing it'd heal, ignoring the pain and using it to feed the beast. Kicking off and dodging another attack she saw the first bit of respect if not anger rise in those eyes of the one who held her Petit, thinking of how Remy always included her in care over the young girl.

Screaming in anger at first, then in rage as rebar tore free of the concrete to lance her through the chest, she snarled feeling cheated at being so very close now. Jubilee was bawling despite the green filth over her mouth, tears blinding eyes that were only ever meant to be bright and happy. Gripping a rod of steel and forcing it further through her wounded flesh that healed almost as fast as it could be cut, she struggled to get closer still.

"You had your chance! You don't even know what you made me do!" Erik roared, thrusting his arms out again as more lances of rebar tore at her.

She had to struggle against the red wash over her eyes, not knowing if it was just the range or blood blinding her. Forcing herself to stare at Lorna one last time thinking her a sister by circumstance, only then did she realize the screams tearing out into the night weren't her own.

"All you had to do was take my hand! You out of all of us could have done this without any risk! You forced me to sacrifice my daughter to save us all! Know my pain!" Erik wailed.

Hearing his words she felt fear like she had never known in her life fill her stomach, tearing at the bramble of steel that bound her to the deck just a few faltering steps short of being able to save them all. The glow was expanding, the rings moving so fast she couldn't even see them, but it was Jubilee alone she had eyes for as she was raised into the air and hurled out over the edge. Thinking her heart would break, everything she had endured for nothing if she couldn't save her for Remy and Cynthia and that selfish part of her own soul, Rogue caught the the scent of the evening rain just in time to renew her soul for one last plea.

"Blast the sonovabitch Jubilee!" Rogue snarled.

She could smell her Petit's fear and terror, despairing that it awoke something in the darkness of her soul knowing it had nothing to do with Uncle Vic, it was the part of him that was forever part of her now. The beast that wanted to chase, the thing that saw a flash of teeth as a challenge, the animal deep down all those years of evolution couldn't erase. In all of those scents though she smelt the one thing she was looking for and tore her gloves free, the smell of ozone before a lightning strike and the smoke of spent fireworks.

In an explosion that blinded her she felt a body thrown against her and gripped it tight just as he had always wanted her. Drawing Erik in, she felt everything he was thinking and dug deeper having suffered this awful curse twice now. She felt his power become hers, drew it in and swore just like she had with her Uncle Vic that she would turn it against him. Casting him off, looking now a tired old man, she had the strength to let go now and turned to another girl she had come to save tonight.

The glow was spreading, blooming out to engulf the whole of the building and just seconds away from spreading to the others. She knew what that glow did and she would never have that forced on anyone else, never wanting it herself in the first place. Reaching out with that borrowed power, she gripped the rings in a moment fueled by rage and the peace knowing her Petit was safe with her Remy's Stormy lady. They shattered in her grip and she held firm, the glow vanishing in the blink of her tired eyes and struggling heart.

"Rogue!"

Opening her eyes again she thought it strange she was laying down on the cold concrete, wondering why everyone looked so far away from her.

"Roguey!"

Why was Jubilee crying, she should be happy, they saved her just like they promised to do. Why was Remy struggling to hold her as she kicked and screamed she wondered.

"Marie!"

Why was Remy calling her that, that wasn't her name anymore, she went by Rogue now. Why wouldn't they just let her rest, she was so tired. She just wanted to lay down for a while, the night was so dark and warm, she'd see them in the morning after all.

"Marie...!"

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-


	14. Chapter 14

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Snapping his phone shut and smiling with a flash of yellow across his eyes, the apparent Senator Robert Kelly looked to all the delegates, diplomats and politicians around him indulging in the refreshments. Helping himself to a glass of wine and walking away from the rest, the iconic skyline of New York lit up in the late evening, soon another light would be added to the glowing city. The victory would be a bitter one to savour at the price it cost, but defeat was unacceptable. Having his first sip of the wine he watched and waited, others joining him with their own glasses and lost to their musing as they enjoyed the view.

The last few hours has been a lesson in control, enduring the Mutant Debate that had hijacked the summit, registration called for among other horrors which some of the less civilized nations of that pontificating organization for world peace brought to the table. It was all over now in more ways than one, just a time for photo ops and pandering for favours. Imagining just what it would look like, the glow of their bright future as it encompassed the entirety of Manhattan and carved out a swath of New York, he thought he could see the first glimmer and raised his glass in silent toast.

Out of the crowd he listened to them point and wonder at the light, growing brighter than any in the night, looking to one another with questions and musings on just what it could be. They would stand witness to future and bring back word all around the world, that the Mutants would not lay down and be shackled. With a single flutter of lashes that future that had been paid for in pain, agony and blood was gone with the glow vanished, only the curious murmur of the crowd to tell that it hadn't been imagined. Excusing himself to a quiet and recluse place at the summit, only then did he find his phone and make a call all the while dreading the answer.

The phone rang and droned on, the click coming that had it going to voice mail. Trying another just to be sure, it too went unanswered. Finishing his wine in a single swallow and throwing the glass out into the harbor, he breathed deep and found the strength to carry on the act. As much as she longed to be there this night and stand at his side, Mystique understood the need for other avenues better than most, the Senator still a useful pawn. Turning on his heel and joining the rest, he found a fresh glass of wine and put on a smile that didn't reach his eyes that went unnoticed or ignored amongst so many liars and sycophants.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Pushing himself to keep up with the frenzied pace his Rogue set, Remy saw her vanish ahead after falling to all fours and clawing at the very deck. A scream echoed loudly, not his Rogue or his Petit, another girl that came to mind feeling his stomach twist thinking back to the mansion.

"Let her go!"

He was close, forcing himself to his fullest even as the twisting of metal joined the night, the shattering of concrete and the wildcat snarling of Rogue. Angry yelling was lost to awful abuse of what had to be the very building tearing itself apart, finally rushing about the corner and standing frozen at the nightmare he saw there.

Lashing about like angry serpents, tendrils of rebar and steel lashed through the air to attack and pierce her holding her firm to the ground. Losing himself to his rage that gripped him just as fast as the terror stole his breath, he lashed out with kinetically charged daggers that were taken in an unseen hand and hurled over the edge to explode impotently. Charging forward and pulling his staff out, a twirl unfurling it to its full length, sudden pain tearing through him as he fell hard only to find he was held fast and firm by another lance of rebar though his leg.

Rogue was pulling at the pieces of steel that ran through her chest, trying ever harder to get any bit closer to the man who he only now noticed held their terrified Petit, bound tightly in a twisting of wires and steel. With red washing out his vision he gripped the offending shackle and charged it, the explosion of steel digging into his flesh as a hot wash of blood soaked his jeans. Finding the strength to get back to his feet and resume the fight, it fled from him instantly in one horrific moment as he watched his Petit carelessly tossed over the very edge of the building, the words echoing in his ears as he was fell low, 'Know my pain.'

"Blast the sonovabitch Jubilee!"

In one last defiant act the answer to Rogue's plea came, the man hit from behind by the brightest and strongest fireworks he'd ever seen. Watching as Magneto was hurled through the air into the accepting arms of his Rogue, she pressed her bare hands to his face that was twisted in pain and anger, replaced by shock and the anguish of knowing just what was happening to him. Throwing him aside and standing against the binding metal, it yielded for her with a wave of her hand as she looked on to the other glow in the night.

"Rogue!"

His shout fell on deaf ears, Rogue standing up and reaching out to the the spinning bands of metal, clenching her fist for them to answer as they stopped at once and shattered. Falling limply from her prison, Lorna looked up with a band of white streaking her green locks, meeting eyes with Rogue before her ordeal claimed her as she fell spent and weak.

"Save her!" Remy shouted, thinking of just everything he'd seen, Rogue the only one who now could save their Petit.

Struggling again to stand, he watched feeling his world end as she herself fell, no hope left for him as he rushed to her side and took her into his arms wailing into the night. Jubilee would die to the pavement below, and as he looked to the wounds Rogue had suffered he saw to his horror that they weren't healing as they should with everything she had taken from Victor in payment for all he had done to her. Pressing his hand to her breast, her heart beat once, then twice irregularly before resting.

"No, no!" Remy swore, clenching his fist and beginning compressions.

She wouldn't, she couldn't leave him alone now, not after he had just broken the most important promises in his life. Not after losing his Petit Ange, the girl who was his sunshine on cloudy days. Pausing to check again, no patter of her heart was felt, beginning anew with a curse to the fates if they'd steal her from him. Feeling the wind rush against his hair, he couldn't spare a glance up as litter scattered and danced down the deck.

"Remy!" Jubilee screamed.

Thinking it a ghost come to haunt him early, he pumped his Rogue's heart hoping never to hear her call to him so when the click of heels against concrete had him look up from his task. His Stormy lady held his Petit in her arms, carrying her over to lay her down near them as she cried and sobbed. Letting his tears join hers, he struggled on crying a prayer as he never before had in his life, asking for just one more miracle. Pumping hard, he expected her to jerk awake or cough and sputter, but the sign of life came as he looked on her face and saw the cuts close before his eyes.

"Rogue!" Remy shouted, checking for the beating of her heart and rewarded finally.

There was so much he wanted to do in that moment but couldn't, to kiss her lips and breath life into her, to brush away the blood that stained her flesh. Shifting over and pulling Jubilee into his lap, he started to strip at the bindings that held her and hugged her hard instead, kissed her cheek and whispered to her all his relief that it was all finally over. The cough he expected came finally, the flutter of those emerald eyes looking up at them utterly tired and wholly curious.

"Rogue!"

His Petit proved a wildcat all her own as she struggled in his arms and kicked, trying to throw herself at Rogue in a misguided embrace. He could hear the others coming, the sound of the Blackbird hovering at the very edge of the battlefield the Empire State building had become. Yet it was those emerald eyes closing again that had him dreading they might never open again.

"Roguey!" Jubilee wailed, forcing them open again.

They looked so tired, fluttering and fighting to stay open for one last look at them both only to fall closed once more.

"Marie!" Remy yelled, calling her secret name, her eyes opening once in a puzzled expression before falling shut.

"Marie!"

"We have to get them back to the school!" Jean called from where she was extracting the equally spent Lorna Dane.

John was walking near now, looking over the scene with his face ashen in horror, his blackened and ruined lighter snapped open once and slammed shut to be held tightly in his fist. Ororo stood conversing seemingly to herself but more likely to Slim. Watching it all he felt the cold take him, finally falling himself amidst the cry of his little Jubilee and John alike. Staring up at them as they fell over him, he blinked once, twice, and then sought the peace of whatever the fates would make him pay for two miracles in one night.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Jubilee woke to a gentle stroking down her back and a soothing melody sung to her 'en francais', the strange mixed with the familiar, the smoky smell that was Remy mingled with antiseptic and the beep of heart monitors and other medical equipment. Cracking open her sleepy eyes and still blind by the watery vision, gentle hands pressed a bit of blanket to them to clear her gaze.

"Mornin' ma petit ange." Remy greeted.

Feeling her heart twist, fresh tears coming, soothing words were whispered as she was wrapped up in his arms. Through those tears she saw where she was, some sort of hospital straight out of a sci fi flick, a trio of beds nearby and all occupied. Rogue was in one, Lorna in another, yet at the sight of the third she squawked and struggled only to be held firm, seeing Toad.

"He be a guest of sorts, don worry, he not be waking up unless they want him to." Remy promised, kissing her atop her head.

"They got him doped up real good."

Looking to the new voice, she saw a boy sitting there stretching and yawning, off against the far wall. He looked tired but the wink he threw her was playful and cocky all at once. Feeling just how tired she really was, she settled down against Remy and wished they were back home out on his deck, just them in a hammock with the waves rolling on in from the Pacific. With fluttering eyes and heavy lids, sleep tugged at her that she wanted to surrender to, looking at the two girls across from her as visions of the night past assaulted her.

"Rogue!" Jubilee shrieked, overpowering Remy with a burst of frantic strength and tumbling out of the bed.

Rushing to her side and ignoring the calls for her to stay, she saw her friend looking as if she were sleeping, surprised to find a shock of white hair running through her blonde speckled auburn. Glancing to Lorna, she saw the same, looking between the two in confusion.

"Your guess is as good as ours." John said, closing the distance between them.

"They're...?" Jubilee started, unable to bring voice to her question.

"Doc Grey said it best, they're stable but not outta the woods. We're all hoping some rest is all they need." John said softly, looking back to where Remy laid on his own bed.

Jubilee followed his gaze and saw for the first time the bandage around his leg, a fresh wash of red staining it darkly. Holding her trembling hands to her lips and rushing up to him, she found herself drawn in with an arm for a hug.

"Looks worse then it be, I didn't think that one through. Think maybe the stitches, they get popped." Remy whispered.

"I'll go get the Doc." John said, giving them some time alone.

Finding some space made for and urged up with a pat, she climbed back up and let herself be wrapped up in those arms as she curled up felt safe for the first time since the whole nightmare had begun. She wanted to cry, whether out of relief or grief she didn't know, wanting to forget the whole thing and just go back to the beachfront home and get lulled to sleep by the crashing of the waves.

"You came." Jubilee whispered.

"Devil himself couldn't keep me away, Jubilee, not me or our friend Rogue. That one, John, he help too. I think he think you be cute." Remy teased weakly, a fist thrown just as tired against his chest expressing her ire.

"He hasn't even seen me ya doofus!" Jubilee growled, burying her face against his chest.

"That not be true, the pictures you and Rogue took on the boardwalk, she show him one. Just like the one I got in my wallet." Remy revealed, ruffling her hair and taking a deep breath filled with the relief of having her safe at his side again.

"Rogue's really gonna be okay, her and Lorna?" Jubilee asked, lolling her head to look at the two girls.

"Time will tell, but I think yes, they just be needing their beauty sleep oui? That and I have too many promises I owe our Rogue that she can't go doing anything foolish." Remy whispered, stroking her hair and toying with it.

"When can we go home?" Jubilee asked in a timid voice.

"Soon, so hush and go back to sleep. It all be over now." Remy urged, kissing her head and singing once more to lull her off.

Knowing she was safe in his arms and that he'd never let anything happen to her, she let herself drift off dreaming of the waves and the surf, dreaming of skating with Rogue and parties with Cynthia, of swaying safe in hammocks curled up against him just as she was now.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-


End file.
